Turns out they made a pretty fantastic driveway duo, both headed toward high school basketball dominance. But at the time they were just cousins, shootin’ hoops.

Back when she was much younger, long before she became a two-time all-stater (soon to be three), Waverly senior Parker Christiansen would travel with her family from their home in Waverly to her cousin’s house in Adams where they would almost every time wind up outdoors, hoopin’ it up, playing especially competitive shooting games, like H-O-R-S-E. And despite being several years younger Parker made her cousin work to win, which in itself is an impressive achievement since that cousin turns out to be a guy named River Johnston, currently a sophomore on the UN-Kearney men’s basketball team after scoring more that 1,300 points in his high school career at Class A North Platte.

That’s pretty good competition, right there. Which is just the way Parker wanted it, River too, if you get right down to it.

“That was fun playing like that and it really got me excited about playing organized basketball, which I did as soon as I could, in third grade,” remembers Parker. Almost immediately Parker realized she had a little something working in the game of basketball and moved on to a pair of club teams. “I really enjoyed that game and had a great opportunity to improve my skills in club ball, because we played great competition from all over the country.”

Speaking of good competition, Parker’s club team early in her high school years was just that, finishing the summer 15-0 and as one of the four No. 1 seeds in a national tournament. “We had just finished a tournament in Minnesota and went directly to Indy (Indianapolis) for that national tournament,” remembers Parker. “Our team was coached by (former Husker and Ord High superstar) Andy Markowski, and we had a lot of great girls on the team.” Great enough to reach the semifinals of a March Madness-like bracket before losing. “That who experience is one of the greatest in my life.”

She and her Waverly High team are enjoying another great experience during the 2024-25 season, having won 14 of their first 17 games and sitting fourth in the Class B wild card standings. “We play in a very tough conference (Eastern Midlands) and even thought we have gotten better by playing such great competition,” says Parker, who is a 6-foot-tall forward for the Vikings. “We have a bunch of girls who can score and our defense has been getting steadily better, even this late in the season. I feel like we are going to be in a good place when districts come around.”

Waverly head coach John Cockerill has appreciated Parker’s contributions to the basketball program, both inside and outside the game.

“Parker is such a kind person and has been a wonderful leader for us. She is a senior captain and a two-time all state player and more than likely a third happening this year,”. “Her caring for her team and teammates will always come first in her mind, but when it is time to win she knows how to get things done. know everyone looks at her as a post player but she is way more than that. Since her sophomore year she has had the ability to fill any role needed on the floor, so we often use her at the point just to realign the defense. She is just so versatile.”

And, as it turns out, a bit of a genius when it comes to cellphone accessories.

A while back Coach Cockerill was, um, discussing the fact he didn’t have any way to place and hold items on the back of his cellphone, things like money and stuff. Along comes Parker and she gets Coach all fixed up with a wallet for his phone, coming through in the clutch like she had so many times on the court.

Then Coach got a new phone and case.

“She saw me fighting with it in practice and sure enough, she comes along, ‘I got ya Coach,’” recounts Coach Cockerill. “I started laughing but right after practice she came with another (wallet). She made fun of me because I immediately asked her to put it on the phone too. You know, help an old guy out.

“We will definitely miss her basketball, but miss her way more as a person.”

Born in Lincoln, Parker has an older brother who is college and for fun she especially likes going shopping with her girlfriends - usually clothes, sometimes accessories - and she also enjoys family game night, especially when it’s Ten Point Pitch Night. “We play mostly 10 point, but some 13 where to off three counts,” she explains. (As someone who grew up in a family that played 10 point, I get that.) She favors any food that is Italian - pizza, pasta, lasagna, you name it - who musical tastes depend on the setting with country her main jam but it’s pop or rap in the pregame, “to get going,” she adds. Riverdale and Night Action are TV series she also enjoys.

Parker is also a brilliant classroom student, carrying a 3.9 GPA and membership in the National Honor Society , and her favorite class is Best Practices on Teaching, a college credit course. “As part of that I get to go to the some of our elementary schools and get a vibe for what I want to study in college.” She knows she’s making an impact on the younger students when she visits, remembering Miss Brown back in second grade, her all-time favorite teacher.

She played volleyball as a freshman and sophomore before concentrating on basketball, a decision also driven by shoulder surgery she had back in her sophomore year of school. She is president of the Waverly High SADD chapter (Students Against Destructive Decisions), vice-president of the NHS chapter, an officer in Spanish Club, and also one of four seniors who serve as Waverly High student ambassadors, who hold monthly meetings with school administration to discuss school activities. Besides all that she also serves as a broadcaster for televised Waverly High volleyball and boys basketball games.

Counting tonight’s game at Duchesne Academy Parker’s team has four games left in the regular season before a hoped for lengthy postseason run. For a girl who has spent a lot of her life on basketball part, being part of a team, she knows it’s going to be a melancholy experience.

“We want to take care of business and win these next four games so we can get a home district and then see how far we can take it at state,” says Parker. “But it will be sentimental and I am dreading the concept of my high school career being over, and when I say it out loud it is both scary and exciting as I move on to the next chapter of my life.”

You know, scary, like trying to get a cellphone wallet to fit...