Moses Lake's Loera to sign with Oregon

MOSES LAKE - After being in the forefront of many peoples' minds

when it comes to girls basketball in the Columbia Basin, Moses Lake

High School's Jordan Loera sets the bar quite high.

MOSES LAKE - After being in the forefront of many peoples' minds when it comes to girls basketball in the Columbia Basin, Moses Lake High School's Jordan Loera sets the bar quite high.

Well that bar not only made her a highly touted player in-and-around Moses Lake, but also in the eyes of national college basketball recruiters.

That battle for the services of Jordan Loera's next four years of basketball contributions starting in 2011 has now been decided.

This past weekend, Loera, a senior at Moses Lake, announced her intention to sign with the University of Oregon Ducks to play her collegiate ball at the NCAA Division I level.

Loera is the second Chief to sign with a Pac-10 school in two years, with Carly Noyes having joined the Washington State Cougars in 2009.

"I took my visit and I liked everything about it, the coaching staff, the players, the system, and Eugene," Jordan said. "I thought about it the whole next week and realized it was where I could become a better person and player."

Jordan took her visit on Sept. 17-18 to Eugene and came away believing she was ready to not only advance academically at the school but also play her basketball for a coaching legend in Paul Westhead.

Westhead coached the Los Angeles Lakers to an NBA title in 1980, behind Magic Johnson and Kareem Abdul-Jabaar, and also was in charge of the Loyola Marymount teams of the 1990s that featured the late Hank Gathers.

"It will definitely be different but the players I talked to said it is a really fun system," Jordan said. "It will be a challenge and I am excited. I just think the shooting element of it where you don't have to hesitate to shoot. It's more of an open game and I think my ball handling, seeing the floor, and shooting will definitely improve in the system."

Jordan's mother, Lori, is excited and brimming with pride with her daughter's career to date and looks forward to watching more.

"We are very proud of Jordan and the decision to play basketball at Oregon," Lori Loera said. "All the years of travel and hard work has paid off. Oregon is a program on the rise and we believe she will play a major role in helping their program succeed. She is excited to play a different style of game. We are excited to see her play at the next level."

Jordan will be able to officially sign with Oregon on the National Letter of Intent Day in November.

Oregon went 18-16 last season overall and 7-11 in the Pac-10.

Jordan had also made an official visit to Washington State and unofficial visits to Stanford, Arizona State, and Washington State.

Now with the decision in her rearview mirror, Jordan can now focus on just being a senior at Moses Lake and playing ball for a program she has helped steer to three straight Class 4A state appearances without any outside distractions.

"It's awesome to make the decision because it was a lot of stress down to the end but once I decided this the pressure was off and now it was time to enjoy my senior year," Jordan said. "Oregon is not that far, its really close, and with basketball I would busy anyway and couldn't come home that much. I'll have to train my speed and for their program I really have to improve my shot so I'll be working on that a lot. I just have to get my consistency up."