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Steadily, Warren's Hughes is measuring up

Warren girls basketball coach John Stanczykiewicz calls the growth of his perennial star Jordyn Hughes "steady."

Basketball-wise, this is true.

From an actual height perspective, however, Hughes has made little progress. Like when she entered high school three years ago, she still stands 5 feet 7 and guesses she won't grow any more, even though her dad is 6-2. (Her mom is 5-6).

"I've been the same height since eighth grade," Hughes, incorrectly listed on some past Warren rosters as 5-8 or 5-9, said with a laugh. "That's very unfortunate."

She even looks basically the same as she did when Stanczykiewicz made her a varsity starter her freshman year. Same hairstyle and all.

"I really haven't changed a lot (physically) from freshman year," Hughes said.

Truth is, she doesn't need to change. Warren liked the 2014-15 Jordyn Hughes, the 2015-16 Jordyn Hughes and the 2016-17 Jordyn Hughes. The 2017-18 Jordyn Hughes promises to be just as special.

An all-conference and all-area player all three years she's been in high school, she signed a national letter of intent last week with Eastern Illinois University after giving a verbal commitment in August. EIU women's basketball competes at the Division I level in the Ohio Valley Conference.

Small-town Charleston just got a big-time competitor who's been fearless on the court since her first varsity game. EIU can thank that super-friendly guy who struck up a conversation with Hughes and her dad in a Walmart on her visit this past summer.

Jordyn was wearing an EIU basketball shirt. She says she got a "good vibe" from the gentleman.

"He said, 'Hey, don't worry. It's a family town,' " said Hughes, the youngest of two daughters of John and Dana. "The atmosphere was just like a home, where I'll feel comfortable."

Committing to the Panthers and new head coach Matt Bollant will allow Hughes to play college basketball close enough to home to allow her parents to come watch her play regularly. That was important.

"My parents have never pushed me to play basketball or any sport," said Hughes, who also played volleyball and softball growing up but gave them up once she got to high school to focus on basketball. "They never pushed me to go Division I. It was all my decision. They were supportive. They said, 'Whatever ends up - Division II, Division III, Division I - it's all right. We're happy for you.' "

Playing college basketball got serious for Hughes when she started playing AAU ball for the Lady Lightning out of Lombard. While she wasn't growing physically, her game was expanding, little by little.

"I knew I wanted to play in college," Hughes said. "But I really didn't know about the dedication it took and how hard it is to be a Division-I athlete until I started playing competitive AAU. My second year (of AAU), summer going into junior year, is when I decided that's what I wanted."

She heads into her senior season having scored 1,211 points. She's played both shooting and point guard as well as small forward - Stanczykiewicz simply calls her a wing - and her versatility is just one of several attributes she brings to the team. She even advanced to the final four in the three-point contest downstate last season, after draining 58 3-pointers during the season.

This season, she and Wake Forest-bound Kaylen Dickson will lead the Blue Devils again, as the team seeks similar success to last season when it won 25 games.

"We're going to have a target on our back, and it's going to be difficult to play with," said Hughes, who averaged 15.5 points per game as a junior. "But hopefully everyone will step up."

She just has to keep doing what she's been doing the last three years, while continuing to hone her ballhandling and already-smooth jump shot.

"It's hard to stay focused on school," Hughes said with a laugh. "All I want to do is play basketball and go to college. But I'm really looking forward to this season too.

"I just want to build my game and my mental game, too. It's not as much about skill. I want to build a bigger basketball IQ."

There's always room to grow.

jaguilar@dailyherald.com

• Follow Joe on Twitter: @JoeAguilar64

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