Johnson sinks game-winning free tosses

Brooke Johnson calmly sank a pair of free throws to put her Western Carolina Lady Catamounts in front of Southern Conference leader UNC-Greensboro, 53-52, with 16 seconds left on the game clock Wednesday in Greensboro, North Carolina. The Lady Catamounts, now 2-0 since Johnson debuted with the team on Sunday against Wofford, held on through the frantic final seconds to claim the important victory. Johnson, who finished with 8 points against UNC-Greensboro, is a former Seymour High School standout. She initially signed with Division II Carson-Newman but opted to transfer to Western after winning the South Atlantic Conference Freshman of the Year and overall Player of the Year in 2005. Listed at 6-foot-4, Johnson is said to be the tallest player in Western Carolina women’s basketball history. She was also the first player in SAC history to win both prestigious individual postseason awards. After leading Carson-Newman with an average of 16.6 points per game during her freshman season with the Lady Eagles, Johnson is averaging 12.5 points through her first two contests at Western. She scored 17 in her first game back Sunday at Wofford. At Seymour High, Johnson was a four-year starter and was selected All-State three times during her prep career. She holds the school scoring record with over 2,500 points to go along with over 2,000 career rebounds, and over 600 blocked shots. She averaged 25 points, 8.4 rebounds and 2.8 steals as a high school senior and was the runner-up for AA Miss Basketball in the state of Tennessee. She led the Randy Moore-coached Lady Eagles to state tournament appearances in both her junior and senior high school campaigns. Although Johnson was not allowed to play basketball after her transfer in the spring semester of ’05, she did manage to make her mark in the classroom by being named to the WCU Dean’s List with a perfect 4.0 grade point average. Western won’t play another game until Saturday, Dec. 30 when the Lady Catamounts host Eastern Michigan in a 4 p.m. tipoff.