Guru’s WNBA Report: Rider’s Stella Johnson Shines During Washington’s Loss to Las Vegas While Los Angeles and Minnesota Also Win

By ROB KNOX (@knoxrob1)

 

 Recently graduated Rider standout Stella Johnson hasn’t had an opportunity to put her whirlwind week into perspective. 

 

 “My head is still spinning,” Johnson said on Friday during a Washington Mystics Zoom media availability session less than 36 hours after being waived by the Chicago Sky, signing with the reigning WNBA champions and scoring her first career professional points.

 

 With a full day to process the wild events in her young life, the 22-year-old Johnson was a bright spot for the Mystics during their 88-73 setback to the streaking Las Vegas Aces at IMG Academy Saturday afternoon in Bradenton, Fla., near Tampa/St. Petersburg.

 

 A clever stylist with balletic moves, Johnson scored seven points, dished five assists, and grabbed four rebounds in 20 entertaining minutes. 

 

 “After you get waived, the league requires you to stay here for at least two days, just in case a team wants to pick you up,” Johnson said. “I didn’t know that was going to happen so the next day I had to get my physical for my exit physical and right as I was getting my physical, my agent hit me up and told me to unpack my things because Washington is interested in you.

 

 “He said that they’re going to give you a call. Two hours later, I signed a contract, and later that day, I was on the bus going to the game. After I signed the contract, they sent over the plays and the other team’s scout too.”

 

In Saturday’s game against Las Vegas, the 5 foot, 10 inch guard made a floating 12 footer early in the second quarter, swished a 3-pointer later in the period, and used a furious burst of fantastic dribbling to glide past her defender and to the basket for a layup in the third quarter.

 

 “I was excited to get more minutes and to be able to see what I could do on a WNBA court,” Johnson said. “While I am here, I want to bring energy on both the defensive and offensive ends of the floor, but mostly the defensive end.”

 

 Ariel Atkins led Washington with 17 points against Las Vegas. Tianna Hawkins (12 points) and Leilani Mitchell (11) also reached double digits for the Mystics, who lost both games this season to the Aces and now have lost seven straight after taking the first three on the season.

 

 “Given the circumstances, this is now an opportunity for her to make an impression with us,” Washington head coach Mike Thibault said of Johnson. “I was happy that she was available and hasn’t been afraid. 

 

“Sometimes when you come to a new team like this, you shy away from being aggressive. We told her the other day when we signed her to ‘be aggressive and that this an opportunity for you.' I am glad she has approached it this way.”

 

 It has been quite the journey for Johnson. She was signed by the Chicago Sky on June 29 after being drafted by the Phoenix Mercury with the 29th overall pick in the 2020 WNBA Draft in April. 

 

Washington dressed eight players against the Aces as former Temple star Shey Peddy (hip), Kiara Leslie (ankle), and Aerial Powers (hamstring) missed the game, thus creating the opportunity for Johnson to play.

 

 “It was so beneficial that she was already here in the bubble and playing with Chicago,” Thibault said of Johnson. “She was already in shape and didn’t have to quarantine. We had watched her play in college. 

 

“Had we had our regular team this year, she wouldn’t have fit the bill. I thought she did some good things today.”

 

One of the most distinguished players in Rider University women’s basketball history, Johnson showcased the same fearlessness against the Aces that traumatized opponents during her decorated career. 

 

The Denville, N.J. native left a legacy in the Broncs program, as its all-time leading scorer with 2,167 career points. She’s the only All-American and WNBA draftee in Rider history.

 

In addition to being named one of the recent Metro-Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) NCAA Woman of the Year nominees, Johnson also earned MAAC Player of the Year honors twice (2018, 2019) the previous two seasons.

 

In March, she helped lead Rider, the top seed, to an opening MAAC tourney win in Atlantic City (N.J.) just before the entire sports world shut down with Rider declared the MAAC champion in the short hours before the NCAA men’s and women’s tournaments were cancelled.

 

 Thanks to Johnson’s excellent performances over the last four years, Rider’s Alumni Gym, which is 14 miles from New Jersey’s capital city of Trenton, became a bigger landmark than the famous neon “Trenton Makes, The World Takes” sign that illuminates the famous Lower Trenton bridge over the Delaware River and along Route 1. 

 

 With a history of selecting gems from small colleges, Johnson was on the Mystics draft board back in April. 

 

She earned this opportunity because she remained confident, patient, ready and prepared. 

 

 Atkins has taken the rookie under her wing. 

 

 Only in her third year, Atkins sent Johnson a welcome text, shared the nuances of being a professional, helped her learn the plays, and provided encouragement. Atkins has been impressed by what she’s seen so far in Johnson. 

 

 “She’s poised and a calm person much like myself,” said Atkins, wearing a black shirt with white letters spelling “Say Her Name” on it during her postgame presser. 

 

“She’s a young guard. I know what it feels like. It’s a unique situation. She just pulled up on our team, so I was just trying to make sure her transition is more comfortable so that she can do what coach sees in her what she can do.”

 

 Johnson, who was the NCAA Division I scoring leader, will have a few days to study the playbook and get acquainted with her new teammates. 

 

The Mystics enjoy a much-needed three-day break after finishing a grueling stretch of six games in 11 days. 

 

Washington meets Atlanta on Wednesday, Aug. 21 at 7 p.m. Las Vegas meets Chicago on Tuesday, Aug. 20 at 9 p.m.

 

 One good thing about the quick transition was Johnson was able to enjoy the comfort of her cozy room in the Bradenton bubble.

 

 “I live on the same floor as the Washington and Chicago team and across from Aerial Powers, so I was able to stay where I was,” said a smiling Johnson, who was wearing a red headband. 

 

 “The whole organization has been welcoming to me. I love coach Thibault. I just want to keep bringing energy. I’ve looked over the plays. They’re not complicated but it’s a new system so I have to get used to them.”

 

Los Angeles and Minnesota Give West Three-Game Sweep With Vegas

 

Even with the way the WNBA has had to reshuffle due to the effects of the Covid-19 virus, the change the league made several years ago making the best eight teams regardless of conference qualify for the playoffs has proven fortuitous.

 

Along with the Las Vegas win over Washington to complete a season-series 2-0 sweep, the Los Angeles Sparks did likewise to the Indiana Fever with a 90-76 win Saturday, while the Minnesota Lynx also did similar by beating the New York Liberty 94-64.

 

In fact, in the Eastern crowd the team did that best wasn’t even on the floor, namely the suddenly revived Connecticut Sun, who by virtue of the Indiana loss took a half-step up to tie the Fever at 7^th with both games in that series yet to be played.

 

To be sure, Connecticut will have its hands full Sunday meeting the front-running Seattle Storm at 3 p.m. on ABC, which here in the Philadelphia area is Channel 6.

 

But, for those looking just at records, the Sun will lose no ground in the Seattle game, should they lose,  and then go head-to-head with Indiana for the first time on Tuesday.

 

And, yes, obviously, an upset gives Connecticut a huge win if it’s then parlayed over the Fever.

 

At the moment, with the first set of half-way games coming Sunday in the shortened and delayed WNBA regular season schedule, Seattle holds a one-game lead over Las Vegas and two, as mentioned, over Los Angeles and Minnesota with the Phoenix Mercury (6-4) and Chicago Sky (6-4), the first Eastern team in the mix, tied for fifth over the Eastern duo of Connecticut and Indianapolis.

 

Still alive but outside of the playoff loop at the moment are Washington and the Dallas Wings (3-7), a game back, followed by the Atlanta Dream (2-8) and New York.

 

If the standings by conference were still in play for postseason qualification, Chicago would be up two on Indiana and Connecticut followed by Washington at a game back of mythical third. Atlanta would be a game back of playoff qualification and New York would be two back.  

 

Still alive but outside of the playoff loop at the moment are Washington and the Dallas Wings (3-7), a game back, followed by the Atlanta Dream (2-8) and New York.

 

As for how the other two Saturday games went on the floor, first in the Minnesota-New York contest  that kept the Lynx (7-3) tied with Los Angeles for third at two games behind idle Seattle (9-1), second-year pro Napheesa Collier, one of the many former University of Connecticut players in the league, missed her career high by a point, scoring 26 while grabbing 13 rebounds.

 

Just a point below her on the day for Minnesota at 22 was yet another former Huskies star in rookie Crystal Dangerfield, who was 9-for-12 from the field, while Lexi Brown and reserve Rachel Banham each scored 11, and Damiris Dantas scored 10.

 

New York (1-9) is holding last place but might not be much better for the moment even if overall No. 1 pick Sabrina Ionescu out of Oregon had not injured her ankle the third game of the season.

 

The matchup, by the way, was the second with new Liberty coach Walt Atkins facing his former Lynx boss in former La Salle star Cheryl Reeve, a native of South Jersey in suburban Philadelphia.

 

Reserve Jasmine Jones was the sole New York player scoring in double figures with 13 points.

 

Reserve Kylee Shook scored nine while Leonna Odom, a rookie like Shook. and Layshia Clarendon each scored eight points. Megan Walker, another ex-Huskies star and rookie, scored nine.

 

In all, seven rookies are on the New York roster.

 

The 64 points were a season low for the Liberty going against the tough Lynx defense.

 

In the Los Angeles game with Indiana for the Sparks’ fourth straight victory, Riquna Williams shot seven of her 30 league co-leading three-pointers and tied a franchise record joining Chelsea Gray, Kristi Toliver, and Mwadi Mabika.

 

Williams, whose marksmanship accounted for all 21 of her points,  shot eight treys in the 2013 season with the then-named Tulsa Shock, which once had been the three-time WNBA champion from Detroit.

 

Nneka Ogwumike scored 17 for Los Angeles, while Gray scored 13, and Te’a Cooper had 14 off the bench.

 

On the Indiana side of things, former Ohio State star and second-year pro Kelsey Mitchell, who also shot seven treys, scored 25 points while former South Carolina star Tiffany Mitchell scored 18, and Teaira McCowan, the former Mississippi State sensation, had 18.

 

Kelsey Mitchell also has 30 three-balls on the season and this was the first WNBA game in the league’s 24-year history that two players connected with seven from beyond the arc in the same game.

 

Speaking afterwards, Sparks coach Derek Fisher addressed the team’s three-point success, paced by Williams, saying, “The players have gotten into better basketball conditioning and game-shape, so they deserve the credit first and foremost because it wasn’t easy coming into this situation to perform at the highest level.

 

“Secondly, we tried to talk about things and work through some things in practice in terms of our overall spacing and commitment to making the extra pass and making our teammates better. 

 

“That’s something that helped create better shot-opportunities for us and that’s what’s playing into why that percentage is going up.”

 

Specifically of Williams, the Sparks coach noted, “You feel like every time she shoots, the ball has a chance to go in. Riquana’s shot is really tight and efficient and that allow her to be a a really, really good shooter.

 

Gray said of the recent improvement in terms of a consistent win streak, “In the beginning we were winning one, losing one, winning one, losing one and now you’re starting to see a consistent effort on both sides of the ball.

 

“We have to figure out and really trusting our rebounding and being able to be consistent with that.”

 

   Looking Ahead

 

As the schedule now hits the mark where all teams will be at the halfway point after Tuesday night, on Sunday, besides the Connecticut-Seattle game, Phoenix and Dallas will tip off first on ABC at 1 p.m. with must-win applicable for each team, Phoenix to stay with the leaders and Dallas to stay close to the bottom playoff eligible slots.

 

The other game at 4 p.m. has Chicago, needing a win to stay close to the leaders, meeting Atlanta, likewise needing a triumph to stay in the playoff hunt.

 

The league is idle on Monday, followed on Tuesday by the Indiana-Connecticut game at 7 on the CBS Sports Network (CBSSN), then Chicago and Las Vegas at 9 on ESPN2, and Seattle and New York wraps the night at 10 p.m.

 

The Guru contributed to this report.