By Michael Letendre
BRISTOL – At the end of her scholastic basketball career at Bristol Eastern, standout forward Jordan Ouellette wanted to continue her hardwood education.
And there were several in-state colleges to choose from.
Ouellette, an obvious student of the game, made choice to link up with the women’s program at Eastern Connecticut State University.
But Ouellette felt the fit wasn’t right and a change was in order.
And she kept it pretty local as she moved from Willimantic to West Hartford as Ouellette is a member of the women’s basketball program at St. Joseph.
Currently, the Blue Jays are 6-2 and Ouellette is excelling on the court.
“It’s pretty good,” said Ouellette of her time at St. Joseph. “We’ve got a pretty good team this year.”
After a standout sophomore campaign (13.8 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.2 steals-per-game in 26 games – 22 starts), she’s simply improved upon her totals this year.
The junior is playing extremely well for the Blue Jays and has earned a couple awards along the way for her play.
She’s the leading scorer on the squad at 16.4 points, and adds 8.4 rebounds and 2.6 assists-per-game.
Ouellette has started all eight games for St. Joseph, averaging just under 34 minutes-per-game.
She’s hitting 46-percentage of her field goals, an excellent percentage, while her 11-of-12 showing from the charity stripe (91.7-percent) leads the program.
Ouellette has scored in double-figure in each game she’s played in, dumping a season-high 29 points at Mitchell on December 1 over the Blue Jays’ 68-57 win.
She hit 12-of-18 field goals over that big effort.
On November 12, in a huge 71-46 victory over Lehman, Ouellette squared up 15 rebounds while tallying 11 in a victory over Elms on December 7.
Speaking of December 7, it was announced that she was selected to the New England Women’s Basketball Association (NEWBA) Second Team for the fourth week of the season – the third weekly honor for the former standout from BEHS.
Ouellette led the Blue Jays to a 2-1 week, posting 18.3 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists-per-game to earn the award.
She started off the week with 10 points against Western Connecticut on November 29 before going for 29 points during the win over Mitchell on December 1.
Ouellette rounded out her week with a 16-point and seven-rebound outing to help lead USJ past Anna Maria (68-56) in its Great Northeast Athletic Conference (GNAC) opener on Saturday, December 3.
And while Bristol Eastern girls basketball coach Tony Floyd isn’t screaming at Ouellette to get back on defense or pass the ball up the court (he yells about everything) any more, those lessons he taught have all paid off for the junior on the collegiate level.
“It’s not much different” at St. Joseph admitted Ouellette. “But I’m glad I learned everything from him because I just use all of it now.”
Scholastically at Eastern, Ouellette suited up for the Lancers from 2016-2020, playing in 78 games overall.
She is a 1,000-point scorer (1,013 points) and chipped in with career averages of 13.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.6 steals-per-game.
Ouellette originally was a point-forward as a freshman, playing in 10 games, but when she was moved over to forward as a sophomore, her play really blossomed.
As a senior, she pumped in averages of 18.4 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists and 2.3 steals-a-night – earning CCC South All-Conference for her efforts over her final two seasons at Eastern.
The most enjoyable part of her game is that she’s a traditionalist in terms of long range shooting and leadership.
Three-pointers aren’t a part of her game and have never been, hence her tremendous field goal percentage.
While every player on the planet, man or woman, are throwing up – and missing – three-pointers, Ouellette has always finished around the hoop and used the midrange game to her advantage.
She’s a clone of former Northeastern University and Boston Celtics standout Reggie Lewis who also wasn’t a big three-point shooter.
And, a lot like Lewis, Ouellette – also a big fan of the Celtics – is a quiet leader who does her speaking on the court with timely buckets, plenty of rebounding and defense.
The bottom line is Ouellette continues to play the game she dearly loves and performs it at a very high level at the school in West Hartford.
“It’s so fun. I love it,” said Ouellette about playing basketball in college. “I never want to leave the sport. So just being able to play it for another four years is great.”
