Mid-Penn girls basketball stars battle in State College’s loss to Cumberland Valley
State College and Cumberland Valley is always a hard-fought matchup.
Tuesday night’s girls basketball game at State College was no different with Mid-Penn stars Jordyn Steindl (State College) and Jill Jekot (Cumberland Valley) trading buckets: Steindl scored 19 points, Jekot 23. The Lady Little Lions ultimately fell 59-53, but the game proved that girls basketball is in good hands in central Pennsylvania, according to State College head coach Alli Mock.
“It’s awesome to have it right here in the middle of central PA to see two really great players,” Mock said. “Jekot is going to Pitt, and that’s awesome. Jordyn is still exploring her options of what her college career is going to look like. To have them continue for two more years — one more game with Jill this year and then, her senior year and to watch Jordyn finish out is going to be really awesome. It’s exciting.”
Steindl is the leading scorer for State College. Every opportunity for the sophomore guard is a chance to learn from the best and attempt to challenge it. She’s played with the Baltimore-based AAU Team, Thrill, over the past two summers, learning to craft her skill against some of the best players in the country.
“It’s really good,” Steindl said. “It’s really cool to compete against the best competition. It gets our team better, it gets everybody better. Seeing the way that she plays, I can learn stuff from that, she can learn stuff from that. When we know we can stop her — it was hard tonight, but I think we did an OK job. We have some things to work on, but it was great playing against her.”
Jekot comes from a long line of basketball players in her family. Jekot’s oldest sister, Kelly, played two seasons at Penn State from 2020-22 and played at Villanova from 2016-19. Her second-oldest sister, Katie, plays for Saint Joseph’s. Julie Jekot is the second-youngest sister and is currently a sophomore at La Salle.
With each of her sisters at schools in Philadelphia, Jill Jekot looked to blaze a path of her own by choosing to attend Pittsburgh in the fall of 2024.
“First of all, it’s a great conference,” Jill Jekot said. “(The) ACC is going to be a great challenge. Also, I love the location. I love Pittsburgh. Although all of my sisters went to Philly, it was definitely in consideration, but I loved Pitt. Their coaching staff is amazing, I’ve formed great relationships with them and I’m honestly super excited to get there and get started.”
The Lady Eagles opened up with a 16-11 lead at the end of the first quarter on Tuesday night, but the Lady Little Lions came roaring back with a number of buckets by Jessica Hawbaker and Diana Tsarnakova in the second quarter. Carley Donnell made a stepback 3-point field goal and just like that, State College trailed 30-29 at halftime.
State College and Cumberland Valley traded buckets in the third quarter with Steindl and Jekot leading the way. The Lady Little Lions had the advantage, leading 42-41. Once Cumberland Valley took a 45-42 lead after Jekot and Sienna Means’ two buckets went in with 6 minutes, 44 seconds left in the game, the Lady Eagles did not not relinquish the lead.
Cumberland Valley 59, State College 53
CV (11-5): Jekot 23, Baseshore 11, Holcomb 6, Means 6, Hill 6, Berra 5, Shah 2
SC (6-10): Steindl 20, Donnell 12, Hawbaker 10, Tsarnakova 7, Tate 3, Risha 2
This story was originally published January 24, 2023 at 10:44 PM.
