Last season, the Jordan girls basketball team more than held its own. This season, the Beetdiggers are looking for more. 

Jordan is once again in a new region, moving from Class 5A’s Region 8 to Class 4A’s Region 10. Jordan will have a full set of new league opponents: Cottonwood, Hillcrest, Murray, Park City, Stansbury and Tooele. The spread-out region offers some intriguing matchups as well as challenges with travel. The new faces could also be a fresh change for Jordan. 

The Beetdiggers were fourth in Region 8 a year ago with a 6-6 record. They were also 14-11 overall, having gone a solid 8-5 in non-region contests. Jordan beat Box Elder in the first round of the 5A state tournament last season, 46-41, before losing in the second round to Lehi by the exact same score. 

Fortunately for Jordan, it has its returning leading scorer back in the lineup. 

Senior Fui Niumeitolu will be the focal point of the offense. As a junior, she scored 17.7 points per game and was also the second-leading rebounder with 6.8 a game. She also chipped in 1.8 assists a contest and had nearly two steals each game. Niumeitolu paced the team with 46 three-pointers as well.

Jordan will need some other players to step up. 

The next four leading scorers on last year’s team were all seniors and have since graduated. Lea Afu, Elle Jacobson, Rachel McKea and Kirsten Oldham leave a big void in the lineup that Jordan will need to fill. Senior guard Tess Joseph chipped in 1.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game last season and will need to take on more duties this season. Other contributors could be junior guard Tess Jacobson, senior guard Sara Newman and junior guard Claire Todacheeny, among others. 

The Beetdiggers hosted Hurricane on Nov. 18 to open the 2023–24 season. Jordan closes out November with a Nov. 28 game at Mountain View. Jordan has five games slated for December, the last of which is the Region 10 opener at home against Cottonwood Dec. 20. λ