Annie Wright’s Julianna Walker is All-Area player of the year
At 5-foot-4, she was too short to compete at the highest levels on a basketball floor, folks thought. Come this fall, Julianna Walker will be playing in the Atlantic Coast Conference as a member of the Syracuse Orange women’s team.
Her funky shot wouldn’t hold up against competition beyond the 1A teams she and her Annie Wright teammates faced each season, people said. This past winter, before a COVID-19 truncated high school season, Walker twice traveled to Arizona with club team BFL Prep. Playing against almost exclusively against other Division I signees, she was named the tournament offensive MVP – both times.
Oh, and despite playing just 10 games this spring with Annie Wright, Walker finished her high school career with 2,834 points – good for third place all-time in the state of Washington.
“Me and my dad have this motto,” Walker said. “It started toward the end of middle school, I think. ‘Prove them wrong.’”
For all the naysayers, Walker has always had the answers. The 2021 News Tribune’s All-Area player of the year currently is accepting accolades.
Just over a week ago, Walker got a package in the mail telling her she also has been named the state Gatorade Player of the Year. That was an honor that shocked even her.
“When the package came in the mail the other day, I thought maybe they sent this to the wrong place,” Walker said. “I honestly didn’t think I was going to get the Gatorade one. A lot of times, 1A players don’t get recognized for the bigger stuff.”
Prove them wrong.
“Juliana is self-motivated,” Annie Wright coach Chris Spivey said. “She has goals and dreams and aspirations to be the most successful person she can be. She has her own desire to be great. And she knows she has to continue to work to be the best.”
Throughout her high school career, rarely if ever was Walker not the best player on the floor. In her 10 games as a senior, Walker averaged 34.3 points a game, 9.7 assists, 8.1 steals and 7.6 rebounds. Annie Wright went 10-0 and won the only title available to them – the Nisqually League – due to the WIAA canceling all state post-season competitions due to the pandemic.
“Our average margin of victory was 67 points,” Spivey said. “We won the championship game by 47. So I had taken her out of some of those games for like the last five minutes. And with those margins, we often had a running clock, so that was another factor.”
Bottom line, Annie Wright was too good to even give Walker every opportunity to go after Hailey Van Lith’s state scoring record. Walker completed her career 153 points behind Van Lith.
The pandemic also stole the opportunity for one of the best 1A teams in the state this year to go after the one thing Walker wanted more than anything for her now alma mater.
“The younger me always wanted a state title,” Walker said. “I didn’t even know that a scoring record was a thing until I got to high school.”
Walker worked hard to improve her play to help her team. Her leadership can be seen in the numbers, as well, when considering the nearly 10 assists a game she dished out this season and the dirty work she did by getting more than seven rebounds a game as a 5-4 guard.
“There’s a reason Syracuse wants her,” said L.J. Walker, her dad and one of her coaches all her life. “As soon as Syracuse gave her the offer, she knew that’s where she wanted to be. Even though she had other offers.”
Walker had her reasoning down, pointing to the successful Orange program under coach Quentin Hillsman (319 wins, nine NCAA appearances and a trip to the National Championship game in 2016) since 2006, and the reputation of the school itself in the field she wishes to study.
“Not only are they an amazing women’s basketball team, but it’s the top school in the country for broadcasting,” Walker said. “That’s what I want to do after my basketball career is over someday.”
Hillsman is currently under investigation after allegations of threats, bullyin, and inappropriate physical contact have surfaced in recent weeks, first reported by The Athletic.
Walker said she’s been part of team-wide Zoom calls with Hillsman since the news broke and is not wavering in her commitment to the school.
“We’ve had multiple team calls with him,” Walker said. “I’m totally confident.”
Walker’s goals include playing beyond even her collegiate career – whether that’s overseas or the WNBA.
“I hope to be playing for Seattle (in the WBNA),” Walker said. “That was my childhood dream. Sue Bird is like my idol. She and (Phoenix Mercury guard) Diana Taurasi.”
And she almost invites bets against her.
“I believe in myself,” Walker said.
Prove. Them. Wrong.
This story was originally published July 9, 2021 at 5:00 AM.