By Dan Murphy
The Girls Varsity Basketball program in Yonkers had three seniors achieve greatness when they each scored their 1,000 point in their high school career. Roosevelt High School Senior Ly’rell Walker is perhaps, the Yonkers Public Schools biggest star student- athlete.
Walker exceeded the 1000 point mark and added 300 more points to her total before the end of the basketball season for Roosevelt, who lost in the first round of the playoffs. Her 1300 points is among the highest for any Yonkers girl’s basketball player ever.
Walker has played on the Roosevelt Varsity Girls Basketball team since her freshman year, and her 1302 total points is even more impressive realizing that she was hurt for her entire sophomore and part of her junior year, with a recurring ankle injury.
Ly’rell picked up her game in her senior year this past season, totaling almost 500 points in this year alone and scoring a personal high 44 points against Riverside this year. As a senior guard on the Roosevelt squad, Walker averaged 25.5 points per game, 8.9 rebounds per game, 4 assists and 4.6 steals per game. This well rounded stat sheet is proof that Walker plays a well-rounded game with little or no weaknesses.
Walker started playing basketball at the age of 10, a little late for the player she has become, which is one of the top five girls basketball players in Westchester. “I played a lot of baseball when I was young, until I was in the 7th grade, when I decided to transition to basketball,” said Ly’rell.
Who helped Walker achieve basketball greatness? It was another Walker, her father, Yonkers Police Department Sergeant xx Walker, from the 3rd Police Precinct. “My dad is a huge part of this. He’s the one who set me on the path that I’m on, he didn’t miss a game and has been a great supporter, and so has the rest of my family.”
Ly’rell played AAU basketball, a legendary summer league that puts all of the best basketball players together, but was injured for a year and didn’t get a good look from college recruiters. But her recent senior breakout season has Walker hoping that a college will take another look. “I would love to have the college basketball experience, and hopefully one of the schools that I speak to is still looking. If it happens it happens.”
Walker is also a top notch student, at the top of her class, and has accumulated 46 college credits to use at whatever college she attends. She was also named the Most Valuable Player in Yonkers Girls basketball, and has been invited by Mayor Mike Spano to attend his State of the City address where he will highlight her achievements.
Her favorite basketball player is LeBron James. “He is a great all-around player and he became great as I started getting into the NBA.” Her favorite shot is a ‘floater’, a difficult shot taken while in the air.
And what is Ly’rell’s advice for young girls looking to score 1,000 points? “You have to work at it. It’s a lot of time, effort and focus. A lot of the challenge is mental, once you get that killer mentality it comes easy.”
When Walker scored her 1,000 point there was no celebration, because there was no official tally of her point total. Her dad, who attended every game, did keep a total point score, but during her senior year, the points kept coming. “I had a new coach every year in Roosevelt and the scorekeeping wasn’t great,” said Ly’rell, who may have missed her 1000 point celebration but has a lot of celebrations of her career coming in the weeks ahead, and perhaps a few more basketball celebrations in college.
Congratulations Ly’rell Walker on 1302 points and best of luck in your future.
