Young phenom leads Horace Mann girls

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If you’re an early riser and you find yourself strolling around the picturesque grounds of Horace Mann High School, you most likely will hear it. That thump, thump, thump sound of a basketball hitting the hardwood.

It grows louder as you approach the Prettyman Gymnasium and that’s where you’ll find Jordan Nixon, the Lions’ sophomore sensation, working on her game.

“She’s in here every morning around 7 a.m.,” Horace Mann girls’ basketball coach Ray Barile said. “About an hour or so before classes even start. Then she showers, goes off to class and she’s back practicing with us again after school. She never stops. She’s always working on her game.”

It’s that early-morning grind, and the endless hours of work Nixon puts in on honing her craft, that has made Nixon the premier player in the Ivy League and one of the top players citywide. If you haven’t seen Nixon play yet, let’s just say it’s worth climbing those 50 or 60 stairs that will eventually lead you to the Prettyman Gym.

“My life is about basketball, school and family,” said Nixon, she of the silky smooth jump shot and infectious smile. “Those are the biggest parts of my life so with basketball having so much significance in my life, I want to work on it and try to contribute to my team more in the years to come. So I continue to work on my weaknesses and my strengths in order to become a better basketball player. I love the gym. If it was up to me, I’d live in the gym.”

Leaps and bounds

 

Nixon burst on the local high school basketball scene last year as s freshman when she helped lead Horace Mann to an 18-win season and a spot in the New York State Association of Independent Schools (NYSAIS) state semifinals. This year, Nixon is averaging over 20 points a game for a Lions team that is 6-3 after 56-37 victory over Fieldston on Jan. 15, in which she logged 25 points along with half a dozen assists and five steals. The game was never in doubt.

Horace Mann School, Jordan Nixon, Ray Barile, Sean Brennan
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