By Cienna Richardson

Orcas High School student

Joe Stephens is a junior at Orcas High School and has been playing basketball on a team since he was nine years old. This month, he reached 1,000 points scored in his high school career.

His passion and commitment to the sport are clearly demonstrated through his skill and precision on the court. This year he is team captain and strives to set a positive example for the rest of the team to follow.

“My main focus is always winning the games but 1,000 was definitely a goal of mine,” said Stephens.

At the Vikings’ away game in Friday Harbor against the Wolverines, Stephens reached his 1,000 points goal. Despite losing the game 46-54, Stephens made 24 out of the 46 points scored, reaching 1,010.

“One thousand points is a great achievement, for sure, but not a surprising one,” said Assistant Coach Corey Wiscomb. “Joe is up early in the mornings to work with a strength trainer, does sport specific skill work between practices, puts in time in the off-season, and always brings his work ethic with him each practice. When a talented player is willing to work that hard then we as coaches get excited and are not surprised when the player achieves marks of distinction. The other part we are ecstatic about is that he’s achieved this milestone and he’s only a junior. Joe still has plenty of room to improve and become an even better player for his senior year.”

The whole school and basketball team are very proud of this achievement and wish Joe the best in his rising career.