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United States Zora Stephenson is an Emmy-winning journalist, known for her comprehensive sports reporting and pioneering play-by-play work in professional basketball.
Zora Stephenson serves as a reporter and play-by-play announcer for NBC Olympics coverage.
Zora Stephenson joined NBC Sports as a basketball reporter for the 2021 Olympic Games and was later announced as a courtside reporter for their NBA coverage.
Zora Stephenson was hired as the team's sideline reporter for Bucks games on FOX Sports Wisconsin and as the digital reporter for Bucks.com. She also became the first woman to handle play-by-play for a Bucks game.
Zora Stephenson is an alumna of Elon University and has participated in their podcast 'Elon Beyond the Bricks'.
Stephenson has been an on-air contributor for these media outlets.
Zora Stephenson has moved from sideline reporting to the broadcast booth for the New York Liberty.
Zora Stephenson has established herself as a notable sports journalist with a career marked by significant achievements in broadcasting. Her path began with a strong foundation in athletics, playing four years of NCAA Division I basketball at Elon University in North Carolina. During her time at Elon, she set a school record for single-season three-point percentage, demonstrating an early connection to the sport she would later cover professionally. Following her collegiate sports career, Stephenson transitioned into journalism.
Stephenson started her professional journalism career in 2015 as a reporter for WNCT-TV in Greenville, North Carolina. Her work in this role earned her the Radio Television Digital News Association of the Carolinas’ Reporter of the Year award in 2016. She then moved to Denver, Colorado, where she worked as an Emmy Award-winning news reporter and anchor for FOX31 and Colorado’s Own Channel 2 (KDVR FOX31). Concurrently, she expanded her sports broadcasting experience, serving as a broadcast analyst for men’s and women’s basketball teams at Metropolitan State University of Denver. She also provided play-by-play and analyst commentary for the Rocky Mountain Athletic Conference’s men’s basketball championship and acted as a sideline reporter, analyst, and host for the Colonial Athletic Association’s basketball championships.
A significant career turning point occurred in September 2019, when Stephenson was hired by the Milwaukee Bucks as the team’s new sideline reporter for FOX Sports Wisconsin broadcasts and as a digital reporter for Bucks.com. In April 2021, she made history as the first woman to handle play-by-play for a Milwaukee Bucks game. Her expertise in basketball and her reporting skills led to her joining NBC Sports as a basketball reporter for their coverage of the 2021 Olympic Games in Tokyo. More recently, NBC Sports announced her inclusion, alongside Jordan Cornette and Ashley ShahAhmadi, as a courtside reporter for their NBA coverage.
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