From 1992 to 1995, Jennifer Stinson scored 2,881 points for the Davenport High School basketball team and became the state’s all-time leading scorer.
Right now, there are at least three girls, Hailey Van Lith from Cashmere, Raigan Barrett from Rogers, and Julianna Walker from Annie Wright — all chasing after Stinson’s record. KING 5's Chris Egan features Walker in this week's Prep Zone.
The gym can be a lonely place sometimes. Annie Wright junior Julianna Walker can be found in the gym 6-7 times a week, shooting up to 400 shots, by herself.
"I think I was in 5th grade when I made Annie Wright Schools and my goal was to be a college basketball player and ever since then, it's just always been about the gym. And I also wrote that on a little piece of paper and hung that up in my room,” Walker said.
Seven years later, the paper is still in her room and her goal now seems more likely.
Annie Wright head coach Chris Spivey said, "Certain players come around every so often, and I think Julianna is one of those type of players where she makes things a lot easier as a coach.”
Spivey has been working with Julianna since the 3rd grade. "She's very coachable, and she's a competitor. She's a competitor and that’s what I appreciate about her," he said.
Walker says she learned to get tough at a young age playing with and against the boys. She played with UW's Jaden McDaniels, and at the YMCA, her teammates were Washington State's Noah Williams and Ohio State football player Gee Scott Junior.
"It helped, because then I was able to be more physical and learn like this is what it’s going to be like in high school. So yeah, it helped to prepare me for now," she said.
"Julianna can score and I think the big thing is like when we need a bucket, we know that we can count on her to get one," Coach Spivey said.
She averaged 34 points a game in her first two seasons at Annie Wright Schools and helped lead the Gators to their first ever state tournament last year. This season, she's averaging over 37 points a game.
On Tuesday, January 21, against a very good team King's team, Walker scored 39 points.
"I don't really look at numbers or anything, I'm just out there playing. If my team needs a bucket, I'll go get a bucket, if we need a stop, I'll get a steal,” she said.
Spivey adds, "What makes her good, is that she's unselfish, you know she gets a lot of credit for her scoring ability, but I want to say she had nine assists in our game last night, she had two blocks, she fills up the stat sheet. But because she scores so well, I think some of those other categories, go unnoticed.”
If she keeps scoring at her current pace, there's a good chance Walker will make history during her senior year and become the state's all-time leading scorer. But right now, she's just focused on getting Annie Wright back to the state tournament.
After high school, Walker wants to play in college and then professionally overseas or in the WNBA. After that, she says she wants to become a television sports broadcaster.