Annie Wright’s Julianna Walker finishes third on state’s all-time career scoring list
One of the most prolific scorers in Washington state high school girls basketball history has officially wrapped up her career. Annie Wright’s Julianna Walker was emotional after walking off the court for the final time. The Gators defeated Cascade Christian, 82-35, to win the Class 1A Nisqually league crown. She felt mixed emotions.
“Happy, sad,” she said. “A lot of sadness. I wasn’t expecting it to be like this, but I do really care for these girls like little sisters. It’s going to be sad.”
Walker, a Syracuse women’s basketball signee, scored 28 points in Annie Wright’s win, finishing her career with 2,834 points. That puts her No. 3 on the state’s all-time career scoring list, behind Cashmere’s Hailey Van Lith, who set the record last year with 2,992 points, and Davenport’s Jennifer Stinson, who scored 2,881 points from 1991 to 1995.
The coronavirus pandemic forced all sorts of changes to high school sports over the past year. No state tournaments were held during the 2020-21 school year, and most leagues around the state went to a league-only season, having to pack games into a shortened timeframe. It meant Annie Wright played only 10 games this season, about half of what they’d normally play. During a standard season, Walker likely would have broken the state’s scoring record.
That’s a tough pill for her to swallow, despite it being out of her control.
“I tried (to accept it),” she said. “I definitely tried. It’s definitely disappointing.”
If there was any closure to Walker’s high school career, it just felt different, as it was for many high school athletes over the past year and change. She wasn’t able to chase the scoring record. And she wasn’t able to chase a 1A state championship with her teammates, either (Annie Wright took fourth place last year in the state tournament).
“(As a freshman), I remember wanting to come in and win a state title,” Walker said. “We didn’t get an extra shot to do that. I’m definitely glad that I came in and hopefully left a legacy for younger girls, even boys, to come in and just put in the work, do right by the Annie Wright name.”
Still, she’ll leave the school as one of the best scorers the state’s ever seen. How would coach Chris Spivey sum up her career?
“Spectacular, if I had to,” he said. “Like I always say about Julianna, as great as she is as a basketball player, she’s an even greater person. It’s a joy to watch her play, joy to coach her, a joy to hold her accountable to a high level — and you don’t really necessarily even have to do that, because that’s what she brings to the table. She works extremely hard. That rubs off on our entire program.”
Walker, who isn’t the loudest voice in the room, gradually came out of her shell during her high school career, getting more comfortable talking with the media, and as a teammate, becoming a more vocal leader.
“She’s making assists, passing the ball and getting her teammates involved, even with (the scoring record) in the back of her mind,” Spivey said. “To me, that says a lot about who she is. Sometimes the other aspects of her game get overshadowed due to her scoring. If you watch her play, she gets other people involved, she makes the right play 99.9 percent of the time. It’s just been a joy.”
And boy, could she score. She averaged 34.9 points for the Gators as a junior. This year, 34.3. In a game against Charles Wright this spring, she scored 58 points.
“She just has a knack for putting the ball in the hole,” Spivey said. “Scoring a lot comes from repetition. She puts the time in. It’s just a matter of muscle memory for her. I don’t know how many shots she puts up a day, but I wouldn’t be surprised if she was putting up thousands of shots a day. That might be an astronomical number, but she puts in the work.”
She’ll head to Syracuse next month. Walker said she hasn’t reflected much on her high school career. She just wanted to finish the undefeated season, first.
“I was thinking, let’s just go get this last championship dub,” she said. “Reflect after. It’s been a ride, that’s for sure.”
This story was originally published June 18, 2021 at 9:47 PM.
