johnson injured in wcu loss

Western Carolina center Brooke Johnson, a former Seymour High School All-State basketball player and the Lady Eagles' all-time leading scorer, was carried off the court Thursday night after injuring her knee while trying to score a lay-up over one of the most memorable nemesis from her storied high school hoops career.

The once vocal crowd at the festive Ramsey Center in Cullowhee, North Carolina fell as silent as a Christmas morning church service when Johnson went to the floor as she tried to defend a lay-up by Chattanooga’s Laura Hall.

The on-the-court rivalry between Hall—a former Oliver Springs All-State point guard—and Johnson has evolved from the crackerjack box gymnasiums on the East Tennessee Class AA prep circuit to the bright lights of Western Carolina’s beloved Ramsey Center. The two hoops prodigies have gone from helping their respective high school squads advance out of the East Tennessee region tournament and into the state round, to leading their respective college teams in last week’s pivotal Southern Conference season opener.

Hall’s basket with 1:49 left in the first half gave Chattanooga a 31-29 lead. The only audible sound at that moment after Hall’s lay-up as Johnson lay on the court was an agonizing cry of pain from Western Carolina’s normally cool and reserved leading scorer.

The Lady Mocs took advantage of the absence of the 6-foot-4 Johnson, the tallest player in the history of Western Carolina’s women’s basketball program, and went on to capture the 86-81 win in the SoCon opener for both teams.

An MRI was scheduled to be done on Johnson’s knee Friday but attempts to reach her family in Seymour or Lady Catamounts’ head coach Kelly Jolly-Harper were unsuccessful on Christmas Eve morning. The Herald Newspapers and seymourherald.com will post an update of Johnson’s status as soon as it becomes available.

“We’ll have an MRI and keep our fingers crossed,” Harper, a former National Championship point guard for head coach Pat Summitt and the Tennessee Lady Vols, said Thursday night after the Lady Catamounts’ home loss to Chattanooga.

“From my angle, it was scary,” Harper added. “It looked like her knee went out on her, but I’m not a doctor. We’ll just have to wait until we get the final MRI before we move ahead.”

Harper made it clear to the shaken Lady Catamounts after the game that the team’s focus will now be on supporting their fallen teammate as she recovers while, at the same time, trying to move on as a unit without her.

Up until the precise moment of her injury Thursday night, Johnson was enjoying her best season as a college basketball player. Johnson, who initially signed with Carson Newman out of high school but transferred to WCU after a record-breaking freshman year in Jefferson City, will leave a massive hole to fill in the Lady Cats lineup.

“No matter what, this team will have to go on with or without her,” said Harper. “I told Brooke no matter what happens we will get her through this.

“If it is what we fear, an ACL, I have been through it and so have several of her teammates and we will help her any way we can,” Harper continued.

“We are worried most about her health right now and we want her to be okay and keep our fingers crossed. But at the same time we have to understand that we have to have other people step up.”

Johnson was leading the Lady Cats in scoring, averaging 11.9 points per game and was second on the team with an average of 6.4 rebounds per outing. She was averaging a team-high 24.4 minutes of action per contest.

Always a well-rounded performer, Johnson was also averaging three assists per contest and two blocked shots. She was hitting 50.5 percent of her field goals and 80.6 percent of her free throws. She was even hitting at a 40 percent clip from behind the three-point arc.

WCU did manage a second-half rally around its fallen star.

Chattanooga built a 10-point lead to start the second half and the Lady Catamounts looked as if Johnson’s injury had taken everything out of them. However, the Lady Cats fought back and went on a 16-5 run to take their first lead of the second half at 63-62.

Western Carolina built a four-point lead thanks to a 3-pointer by Monique Dawson, but the Lady Mocs battled back again.

Chattanooga tied the game, the seventh tie of the game, at 72-72 with 4:33 remaining and took the lead thanks LaCondra Mason splitting a pair of free throws. Western Carolina answered when Ashley Pellom split a pair of freebies on the other end to tie the contest for the eighth time at 73-73.

A trey by Chattanooga’s Kristin Spann allowed Chattanooga to reclaim the lead and the Lady Mocs never trailed again.

Thursday night’s contest between the two SoCon rivals is just a prelude to what promises to come this season from the bitter conference rivals.

“Of course we want to win anytime we play Chattanooga; it’s a big game for us,” said Lady Catamounts’ guard Monique Dawson, who led WCU with 20 points in the Thursday loss. “Seeing Brooke go down hurt, but it was also a little bit of motivation for us. We wanted to go out and win the game for her. To win all those games in Hawaii and then come home and get a loss at home, it hurts. We just know we’ve got to come back and get better.”

WCU (8-3, 0-1) returned to the mainland last week after a memorable and successful trip to Hawaii, where the Lady Catamounts won three games in a tournament.

The Lady Catamounts and Lady Mocs shared the Southern Conference’s regular season title last season. WCU won both regular season meeting between the two teams and was the tournament’s top seed, but Chattanooga defeated the Lady Cats in the tournament championship game.

“They’ve got great players and a great coach,” said Chattanooga coach Wes Moore. “We’ve met them in such big games over the last few years that it’s definitely developed into a rivalry.”

Chattanooga's Hall wound up with 19 points in the Lady Mocs' Thursday win. 

Western Carolina will take a break for the holidays and return to action on Dec. 30 as the club travels to Raleigh, North Carolina to play North Carolina State.