Student Wins $10,000 For Half-Court Shot, Pays It Forward To Grandma

Jordan Stiers’ grandma clearly raised her right. Stiers, a University of Kansas sophomore from Independence, Missouri, won $10,000 in a half-court shot game and immediately said she is giving the money to her grandmother who rescued her from foster care when she was 10-years-old.

“I was just thinking about my Nana and what I was going to do to help her,” said Stiers, who won the money Saturday when Brennan Bechard, director of Kansas basketball operations, made the half-court shot on her behalf, reports CBS Wichita affiliate KWCH-TV.

She chose Bechard, who sank the shot the year before.

Kansas basketball coach Bill Self offers a check to a random student each year if someone can make a half-court shot on his or her behalf. He wrote out his own personal check on the spot and handed it to Stiers. Stiers is the first one in her family to graduate high school. She says of her grandmother, Roxanne Edwards, who also volunteered to raise Stiers and four of her siblings, “She’s my mom. She’s my dad. She’s my grandma – she’s everything.” Stiers said. “She has done so much for me, taught me so much. There’s nothing I can do to repay her, but this will say thank you a little bit.”

And what will Edwards likely use the money for? Probably to help pay her bills, Stiers said, adding, “I don’t think she’s going to believe me. This kind of thing doesn’t happen to people like us. She’s probably going to cry, just like I did.”

You can watch the shot here.