Vanessa Richardson, sideline reporter for Space City Home Network (SCHN), was awarded a Lone Star Sports Emmy for her coverage of the Houston Rockets during the 2024-25 NBA season.

SCHN is jointly owned by the Rockets and Major League Baseball’s Houston Astros, and it regionally televises game broadcasts and related programming throughout each season. The Lone Star Emmy program, which recognizes outstanding achievement in television broadcasts across Texas, is one of 19 regional chapters under the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences.

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Richardson won in the category of “Sports Reporter: In-Game, Pre or Postgame.” Her submitted clips were led by a postgame interview with Amen Thompson (“I feel like Kobe”) following January’s game-winning shot in Boston, as well as follow-up coverage and numerical context during the next broadcast.

Other clips included a postgame interview with Jabari Smith Jr. after Houston ralled to win an Emirates NBA Cup 2024 quarterfinal match versus Golden State, as well as in-game reporting on the activities of head coach Ime Udoka and his coaching staff. The latter clips included a segment during Houston’s 2024-25 regular-season opener in which SCHN visually showed a map of where Udoka and his staff visited players during the preceding offseason.

The upcoming 2025-26 campaign will be the fourth for Richardson to work in that capacity with SCHN and the Rockets. And just as the team is rising to national prominence, Richardson is doing the same — as shown in ESPN awarding her several on-camera hosting roles this offseason and during the 2025 NBA playoffs.

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While work with SCHN and the Rockets remains her primary job, her star is clearly on the rise — and this week’s Lone Star Emmy is simply the latest validation.

The other finalist in Richardson’s winning category was Lesley McCaslin, sideline reporter with the Dallas Mavericks. The complete list of nominees and awardees, in all categories, can be accessed here.

More: ‘I feel like Kobe’: On career night, Rockets star Amen Thompson beats buzzer in Boston

This article originally appeared on Rockets Wire: Vanessa Richardson wins Lone Star Emmy for Rockets’ TV coverage