College Achievers: Carmel graduate has landmark night in starting debut for Duke women’s basketball

They left Jordan Wood open, and she made them pay.

Making her first college start Nov. 9 for the Duke University women’s basketball team, the 6-foot-4-junior forward responded with her best game as a Blue Devil.

A 2023 graduate of Carmel Catholic High School in Mundelein, Wood hit 5 three-pointers and scored 18 points in a 91-48 win over Holy Cross at Cameron Indoor Stadium in Durham, N.C.

“It was exciting. They kept leaving me open, and I was like, ‘OK, I’ll just keep shooting it,’” she said on the phone last Thursday.

“I was really nervous, especially my first time starting in college,” Wood said. “I started all my high school games but it was different, coming to college and just being a role player and doing what you need to do for the team.”

An Illinois Basketball Coaches Association first-team all-state selection both her junior and senior seasons at Carmel, Wood graduated as the program’s leader in points, assists, blocks, and steals, and finished second in rebounds.

Initially committed to Michigan State, she reopened her recruiting after a coach left that program. Wood then committed to Duke from among some 25 offers.

Asked what Carmel coach Ben Berg taught her that she now applies in college, Wood said: “Honestly, everything.

“Everything was balanced. Being able to be a good athlete, really focusing on learning plays and doing all that stuff,” Wood said.

“That was the first time I had to do actual film sessions. AAU (she played for Midwest Elite), you’re not going to sit down and scout teams, so that’s honestly been really helpful and it still translates to this day. A lot of my coaches will compliment me on how well I can understand schemes for the teams, quick turnarounds, so I definitely have Coach Berg to thank for that.”

Entering No. 15 Duke’s game Friday at West Virginia, in the early going Wood was averaging 10 points, 7 rebounds and 3 blocked shots. She’d started the last two of Duke’s first three games.

Majoring in sociology while also seeking certification from Duke in marketing and business management, Wood’s main adjustment to college basketball came with the simple realization that players were much better across the board.

“Some high school competition, it’s not as strong, I guess, and so I was able to get away with doing little, simple mistakes. Here, they really capitalize on it,” she said.

“So, I’m just making sure that I’m staying focused and that I’m doing the right thing. If I’m not, then that’s something that I need to get better at and really work on,” she said.

She’s also getting a handle on having a short memory if the shots aren’t falling. In the game that followed Wood’s big night, she went 1 of 6 from the floor, finishing with 5 points and 8 rebounds in an 83-32 win over Norfolk State.

Duke coach Kara Lawson had Wood on the floor 26 minutes, third among all Blue Devils. The coach believes in her, and it’s up to Wood to believe in herself.

“I was really upset with myself for not hitting all the shots in the beginning, I only hit one,” Wood said. “But she wasn’t worried about it as long as I believe that I could hit the next one that I took.”

Remember this Titan

Illinois Wesleyan sophomore outside hitter Alex Bardouniotis (St. Charles North) earned first-team honors on the College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin women’s volleyball team. She ranked in the conference top-10 in kills per set, attack percentage, points, and aces while helping the Titans to an 8-0 record in the CCIW, its second straight league title. As a freshman, Bardouniotis was named CCIW first-year student-athlete of the year in women’s volleyball.

Auspicious debut

Earlier this month, Illinois State guard Ty’Reek Coleman (Waubonsie Valley) was named the Missouri Valley Conference freshman of the week in men’s basketball. Captain of the Daily Herald 2024-25 DuPage County All-Area boys basketball team, the 6-2 guard came off the Redbirds bench to score 24 points in 25 minutes in a 76-65 win over Cornell. Coleman made 6 of 8 shots from the floor and 10 of 13 from the foul line.