NEW ORLEANS (February 7, 2024) – Jerkaila Jordan, a 5-9 senior guard for the Mississippi State women's basketball team, has been selected as the Greater New Orleans Amateur Athlete of the Month for January. Monthly athletes of the month have been selected by the Allstate Sugar Bowl Sports Awards Committee since 1957. The athlete must be a native of the greater New Orleans area or must compete for a team in the metropolitan region in order to be eligible.
 
Greater New Orleans Amateur Athletes of the Month
 
Jordan, a New Orleans native and a product of John Curtis Christian School, averaged 17.9 points, 5.3 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 3.4 steals per game over seven games in January. In her final performance of the month (1/29), the senior guard tallied 24 points, her fourth 20-point game in SEC play in the month, on 9-of-17 from the field and 3-of-3 from behind the arc with five steals as State took down defending national champion LSU, 77-73. On Jan. 22, Jordan notched her ninth career double-double with 21 points and 12 rebounds in an 89-77 road win over Florida. After those two games, the senior was named the SEC Co-Player of the Week. She also scored 25 points in a loss to No. 1 South Carolina and 21 in a loss to Vanderbilt. On the season, Jordan, who is the only player on the team to start every game this year, leads the Bulldogs with 17.4 points per game and a 46.0 shooting percentage.
 
Jordan helped the Bulldogs to two more SEC wins to open February as they now have a 19-5 overall record. They host Georgia on Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
 
The senior star was selected for the honor over five other basketball stars, a track and field standout, and a bowling champion:

• Allen Graves, a 6-9 senior center and the No. 1 ranked player in Louisiana, led Ponchatoula High School to a 9-3 record against a very tough schedule in January. Graves, a Santa Clara signee, averaged 20 points per game, shot 65% from the field (66-of-101), shot 81% from the free throw line (43-of-53) and shot 30 percent from 3-point range (15-for-50). He also averaged 11.5 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.4 blocks per game. Graves is the reigning MVP in the state for Non-Select Division I, having led Ponchatoula to the state championship in 2023.
   
• Jordan Johnson, who ranks No. 5 in the nation with 21.8 points per game (through 2/5), averaged 22.6 points, 3.4 rebounds, 3.9 assists, and 2.0 steals over eight January games for UNO men's basketball team. He tallied three games with 35 or more points and now has six 30-point games this season. His high-water mark was 40 points in an 83-80 victory over Texas A&M-Corpus Christi (1/13) – he became the eighth player in UNO history, and the first since 2007, to score 40 points in game. He also added 36 points that same week in a Jan. 8 win over Texas A&M Commerce as he was named AP and Oscar Robertson National Player of the Week after averaging 38 points, 5.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, and 2.5 steals in the two wins. The 6-1 senior from Memphis also scored 35 in a loss to Houston Christian (1/22).
   
• A graduate student from Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine, Illia Kunin placed fourth overall in the 3000-meter run at the John Thomas Terrier Classic in Boston on Jan. 25 with a personal record of 7:55.54. His time was Tulane men's track record and beat the previous school mark of former Tulane All-American Emmanuel Rotich. He is the first Tulane runner to ever go sub 8:00 in the event. The time also was the Ukraine U23 record. He currently has the top time in the AAC in the event. His time also ranks him fourth in the South Central Region and 37th in the NCAA.
   
• Daijon Leatherman, a 6-8, 240-pound junior averaged 19 points, 16 rebounds, and 1.7 assists as he led George Washington Carver High to a 12-2 record in January. He recorded 14 double-doubles (points and rebounds) including a 21-point, 27-rebound performance in a 67-63 win over St. Augustine on Jan. 13. He also had 22 and 12 in a win over powerhouse Scotlandville (1/9) and 26 and 16 in a win over Catholic of Baton Rouge (1/20).
   
• Elijah Morgan, a 6-1 graduate student in his second year with The Citadel men's basketball team, has been the top player for the hard-luck Bulldogs who posted a 1-8 record in January with six of the losses coming by less than 10 points. A Jesuit High School product, Morgan started every game and averaged 18.3 points, 4.6 rebounds, 1.7 assists, and 1.2 steals per game. In the Citadel's lone January win against Mercer (1/24), Morgan scored a team-high 21 points, including 19 in the second half (along with 11-of-11 free-throw shooting) and a clutch three-pointer in the final minute as they erased a 16-point deficit. He tallied a career-best 29 points, including seven three-pointers, in a loss to Samford (1/6), and also went for 20-plus points against Furman (24), Wofford (21), and UNC Greensboro (20).
   
• Hunter Mullen, a junior at Slidell High School, won the U18 boys division of the Louisiana Grand Prix bowling championship Jan. 27-28 at All Star Lanes in Baton Rouge. Mullen qualified in the eighth and final spot for the eight-bowler, double-elimination bracket. He lost 279-261 to top-seeded Preston West in the opening match and then won five consecutive matches to capture the title, defeating former Brother Martin bowler Jack Nunes twice for the championship. He averaged 232 on Sunday after qualifying with a 222 average on Saturday. With the high school season beginning in January, Mullen averaged 223 in his first six games as Slidell started 1-1, losing a tight match to Archbishop Rummel and defeating John Curtis.
   
• Nicholls forward Diante Smith was a two-time Southland Conference Player of the Week in the month of January, leading the Colonels with 17.3 points per game in the seven league contests. He also averaged 7.0 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 2.7 steals per outing and made 20 of 43 three-pointers (.465) and shot 85 percent at the free throw line. Smith earned his first POW honor after scoring a then career-high 23 points in the overtime win at Houston Christian University. He drained a 30-footer with five seconds to go to send the game into OT and added another three in the extra period, finishing with eight rebounds, seven assists and three steals. Nicholls then won back-to-back games in overtime on the road. Smith scored seven points in the OT win at Incarnate Word, finishing with 20, then had a career-high 29 points with 11 rebounds at Texas A&M-Commerce. He drained the game-tying three with 30 seconds at Commerce, then hit another with one with a second remaining to send it into double overtime. He averaged 24.5 points and eight rebounds for the week and was named SLC and LSWA Player of the Week.

The Allstate Sugar Bowl has established itself as one of the premier college football bowl games, having hosted 28 national champions, 107 Hall of Fame players, 52 Hall of Fame coaches and 21 Heisman Trophy winners in its 90-year history. The 91st Allstate Sugar Bowl Football Classic, which will double as a College Football Playoff Quarterfinal, is scheduled to be played on January 1, 2025. In addition to football, the Sugar Bowl Committee annually invests over $1 million into the community through the hosting and sponsorship of sporting events, awards, scholarships and clinics. Through these efforts, the organization supports and honors thousands of student-athletes each year, while injecting nearly $2.4 billion into the local economy in the last decade.