College notebook: Gray’s Jordan Grant builds her game at Westfield State

As a dominant low post scorer at Gray-New Gloucester High, Jordan Grant never made a 3-pointer. Never even attempted one, actually. Now a junior on the Westfield State women’s basketball team, the 5-foot-11 forward still does much of her scoring in the lane, but on occasion can hit 3-pointers, too.

Jordan Grant

“We have a play called Twist where I pop out,” said Grant, a junior from Gray. “The first time, I popped out on the left side, got the ball, and said, ‘Here goes nothing.’ It went in and I just smiled.”

A Varsity Maine All-State selection as a senior at Gray-New Gloucester in 2020, Grant is enjoying a strong season for Westfield State, an NCAA Division III school in western Massachusetts.

Grant leads the team in scoring (17.7 points per game), rebounds (7.0) and field-goal percentage (50.4%), while making 4 of 15 3-point attempts. After missing three games because of a sprained ankle, Grant returned with 20 points in an 86-82 win at Mitchell College on Dec. 6. In Westfield’s last game before the Christmas break, Grant had a career-high 34 points and 12 rebounds in an 88-70 win over SUNY Cobleskill. On Monday, she finished with 16 points and five rebounds in a 76-72 loss to Coast Guard.

On Tuesday, Grant was named Massachusetts State Collegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Week. Grant and the Owls (7-6) were scheduled to begin conference play Wednesday night at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts.

“She’s on the right track. Her leadership’s developing,” said Andrea Bertini, Westfield’s head coach.

Grant said she had not considered going out of state for college until she met Bertini and visited Westfield State.

“They made me feel like I was wanted here,” Grant said. “Going into last season, I felt like I had a lot to work on. Everything just flowed together.”

After the pandemic scrubbed what would’ve been Grant’s freshman season in 2020-21, she decided she needed a change of scenery and transferred to Palm Beach Atlantic University in West Palm Beach, Florida, for one semester. Missing basketball, Grant returned to Westfield for the second semester last season. She played in 17 games, starting nine, and averaged 14.9 points and 6.4 rebounds. The extended time off may have left Grant rusty, but it didn’t hamper her game in the long run.

“When she came in (last) January, she was just getting her feet wet. We realized she can score on the blocks and rebound. She developed an elbow jumper and can score in the post. We saw a lot of offensive skills she could build on,” Bertini said. “We’re trying to put her in spots where she can be successful.”

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

Windham’s Sarah Talon, a freshman at the University of Maine, was named America East Rookie of the Week on Tuesday. Talon scored a game-high and career-high 21 points in a 74-62 win at Bryant last Thursday. Talon was 8 for 12 from the floor, including 2 for 2 from 3-point range, and 3 for 3 from the free-throw line. She also grabbed five rebounds and had two steals, a block and an assist.