Feb. 15, 2007
Desiree Johnson had a plan and at least at first anyway, it didn't involve donning an Aztec women's basketball jersey. Coming out of high school in Renton, Wash., near Seattle, Johnson had just missed her entire senior season after tearing her ACL in her left knee. While she continued to play competitively following graduation in 2000, college basketball wasn't in her immediate future.
Instead, Johnson, who moved to Washington after spending the first part of her childhood in Hawaii, worked as a teacher at a day care.
"I didn't really want to play (basketball) after I was cleared to play (following recovery from her knee injury)," Johnson said. "I didn't want to go to college right away, and I had a good job and worked. But I still played with my traveling team in the summer and people could recruit me even though I didn't really want to be recruited."
After two years in the work force and living on her own (her family had since moved to California), Johnson decided that going to college on a full-time basis was the next step to take.
"I knew that I was going to finish school one way or another," she said. "It was just a matter if I wanted to pay for it myself or play basketball and earn a scholarship. School was my real motivation, not basketball."
Johnson missed her senior year in high school due to injury and didn't formally return to the court until three years later at Los Angeles CC. |
Johnson decided to leave the Pacific Northwest and head to California, signing with San Jose State for the 2002-03 season. The injury bug, however, once again derailed her plans, as she tore ligaments in her right knee during the summer of 2002, requiring six to eight weeks of rehabilitation.
The 6-2 center ended up leaving San Jose State after the first semester, never suiting up for the Spartans. Instead of returning to Washington, Johnson went to visit a former teammate who played basketball at Los Angeles City College (LACC) and ended up liking it so much that she stayed.
Playing on a regular basis for the first time in four years didn't seem to have much effect on her game, as she garnered first team all-league honors in her first season at LACC in 2003-04. Her success on the court attracted attention from several Division I schools, including San Diego State.
While she could have left her junior college after just one year, she decided to stay another season with the Lady Cubs.
"I liked what I had at my J.C.," said Johnson about her decision to stay at LACC. "I had two good jobs, including working for a stockbroker, and didn't have to take that many classes."
As a sophomore, Johnson averaged 13.7 points and 8.1 rebounds per contest, earning all-league accolades for the second time. She ranked in the top 15 in the conference in scoring and tallied 20 or more points in a game six times.
While Johnson was playing her second year at LACC, San Diego State was going through a change with its women's basketball program as Beth Burns returned to Montezuma Mesa for her second stint as head coach.
Seeing an immediate need to fill in the Aztec frontcourt, Burns, with the help of new assistant coach Jualeah Woods who recruited Johnson while working for Oregon State, brought her to San Diego where she officially signed a National Letter of Intent in May 2006.
Johnson has had an immediate impact since setting foot on campus, starting every game and leading the conference in blocked shots in both campaigns.
In 2005-06, she averaged 7.5 points per game and a team-high 5.6 rebounds per outing. She reached double-figures in scoring on six occasions and had two double-figure rebounding efforts, leading the team on the boards 10 times. Her best overall game came against No. 21 ranked BYU when she tallied a career-high 19 points and added seven rebounds, four blocks and three steals.
After being the team's lone threat in the middle last season, Johnson has had much more help this year with the addition of juniors Jennifer Layton and Shannon Clay along with freshman Lauren Hoisington. She continues to lead the league in blocked shots (1.43/g) and is contributing a team-best 6.1 rebounds an outing entering the Feb. 15 game at Air Force. Johnson also has three double-doubles and has been a key force in helping the Aztecs to the program's most wins since 2000-01.
While Johnson's experience and maturity have been key factors in SDSU's success, her teammates sometimes forget that she is now 24, at least three years older than the rest of the Aztec squad and six years older than its youngest member.
"I think they forget that I'm older," Johnson said. "The ones who have just turned 21, I've become much closer with them. But as a whole, the team doesn't remember how old I am until someone else brings its up, like when coach Burns sometimes jokes by calling me a senior citizen."
Ironically, coming to San Diego not only gave her an opportunity to play Division I basketball, but also a chance to reunite with her family, as her mother, Fusi, who she now lives with, moved to San Diego in 2002.
"I like living at home," Johnson said. "This is the first time that I have been back at home since high school. I haven't lived with my mom since then, because everyone moved (from Washington) once I graduated thinking that I was going away to college."
While she may be graduating this year, Johnson won't be far from the Aztec basketball program. Her sister, Paris, the top player in San Diego County last season, signed a National Letter of Intent to play basketball for SDSU next year and has said she wants to keep the No. 32 in the Johnson family.
"She asked me what I thought and what she should do," said Johnson about her sister's decision to attend San Diego State. "I didn't try to give her much input, because I didn't want to be the reason why she did or didn't go here or there. I just gave her the options - the pluses and minuses - and told her that she would just have to decide (on her own) from there."
The Johnson sisters have become closer as Paris has come into her own in the prep ranks, despite the fact that the two are seven years apart.
"When we were younger, she was just the annoying little sister," Desiree said with a smile. "But as we're getting older, even though there's still the same age difference, she's able to relate to me more. We have a better relationship and have more things in common.
"We hang out sometimes and she likes to do whatever I'm doing. I know that she does look up to me from what people tell me, but I don't see it that way, because it seems like we're just friends."
While her sister's route to SDSU will be a much shorter one, she need not look far for advice even if things ever get tough, because Desiree Johnson has been there before and is proof that perseverance can pay off.