CULLMAN, Ala. – There’s a new name atop the scoring charts at Cullman High School. One of senior point guard Anna Katherine Eastman’s early baskets in the Lady Bearcats’ 60-29 win at Decatur last Friday pushed her past former Lady Bearcats star Baylee Johnson to become the all-time leading scorer in Cullman history. After Cullman’s win over Hartselle Tuesday night, Eastman now holds 1,724 career points, breaking Johnson’s record of 1701.
Cullman Head Coach Josh Hembree has been with AK all four of her years at Cullman High School and what he will remember about her more than any of her records is the type of person she is and the way she affected people around her.
“I’ve gotten to see AK play for the last four years I’ll tell you what, she’s special. More so than a basketball player, she’s an incredible human being,” Hembree said. “She’s got a heart for people; she’s got a heart for the Lord and for living her life in a way that’s a blessing to others. I couldn’t ask for a better player in my first four years here as a head coach to kind of hang our hat on.”
Hembree knew very early in his tenure with the Lady Bearcats that he was going to have a great guard to work with for years to come but even he couldn’t predict how much of an impact she would have.
“From the moment I stepped on campus in May of 2016 I was introduced to her, I watched her play and I knew she could play. She handled the ball, passed it well, obviously she shot it well and her holding free throw records and all kinds of things like that is just huge,” Hembree said. “I wish I could say I knew she’d be the all-time leading scorer here. I didn’t, but I knew she was going to have that opportunity.”
Eastman was still in middle school when Baylee Johnson was collecting her scoring title but got an opportunity to watch her up close. She knew then that was the type of player she wanted to become.
“During seventh grade I got moved up to play JV and I got to watch her play her senior year. It was special and that’s who I looked up to my whole career and that’s who I wanted to be like.”
Scoring records were never on AK’s mind during her high school career. She knows that she put in the time and effort to become an elite player but credits the quality of the teams around her for helping her reaching this point.
“I guess I just took it one game at a time. We’ve had a good team every year so just being a team player and doing whatever’s best for the team,” Eastman said. “It just means so much because you put so many hours into gym, you come in and shoot before practice and you stay after practice so I just think it’s really cool to see that hard work pay off.”
After Cullman’s area-clinching win over Hartselle, Hembree reflected on Eastman’s performance and used it to sum up both her playing career and her character.
“She’s been our unquestioned leader for the last couple of years and I told her tonight after the game, she played with such maturity and such poise and it just wasn’t about her. There were several times in the second half when she could’ve taken it in and scored, she could’ve taken a shot and she didn’t because she knew what our goal was,” Hembree said. “Our goal was to win the basketball game and she pulled it out, she found other people, she got it back and dribbled out the clock for the last minute and a half. That’s who she is and obviously I’m proud for the scoring record because she deserves it, she’s a gym rat and she works her butt off but I’m so much more proud of the type of person she is. She’s one of those people that you’ll always go to battle with and always remember.”
Eastman signed in November to continue her playing career at the University of Montevallo but has plans for one more postseason run with the Lady Bearcats. Cullman will wrap up the regular season against Athens Friday night before hosting the Area 14 tournament finals Feb. 6.
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