Timberline hoops star Brooklyn Hicks is Thurston County’s new career scoring king

At the end of his freshman year, Timberline High School star basketball player Brooklyn Hicks wrote down some goals. Among them: becoming the all-time career scoring leader in Thurston County and joining the state’s 2,000-point club.

One down, one to go. Hicks recently passed former Timberline star and current West Virginia guard Erik Stevenson to become Thurston County’s all-time scoring king. Heading into Thursday night’s crosstown rivalry matchup with North Thurston, Hicks has 1,893 points, surpassing Stevenson’s career mark of 1,861.

“It’s a pretty good achievement,” Hicks told The News Tribune on Wednesday. “Especially having a relationship with Erik, it’s something we can talk about.”

Timberline coach Allen Thomas, who coached both players, said it’s a well-deserved milestone for Hicks.

“He’s a guy that has put in a lot of time,” Thomas said. “As we talked about before the season started, if he wants to have some of those goals met, it has to come through our team success.

“I think he bought into that right away, understanding he’s the face of our team and of our community, and that holds a lot of responsibility. He dedicated himself to the team and through that, came some individual success, as well.”

Hicks, a UNLV commit, is averaging 32.1 points per game, along with 8.3 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 2.9 steals. He set the single-game school record with 51 points in a win over Central Kitsap on Jan. 4 and has scored over 40 points four times this season.

Hicks likely would have already passed the 2,000 point mark by this point in his career, if not for a covid-shortened season his sophomore year. While the Thurston County mark is a fun milestone, the 2,000-point mark is the one Hicks has honed in on since his freshman year. His cousin, Kiana Brown, scored over 2,000 points in her prep career in Oregon in the early 2010s.

“It runs in the family,” Hicks said. “Honestly, I probably set my goal harder to get 2k than (the Thurston record),” he said. “I’m still striving.”

Thomas considers himself lucky to have coached both of Thurston County’s all-time leading scorers.

“I think Erik set the tone to inspire the younger guys behind him,” Thomas said. “It just so happened Brooklyn was that next guy up. I think he’s always embraced being a team guy, being about winning. This is a record he’ll remember forever. … When you have a lot of kids deciding what they want to do, for him to stay loyal to our program, he reaped the benefits of being steady and consistent.”