Johnson's Breakout Game Lifts H.D. Woodson

H.D. Woodson 61, Bishop McNamara 55

If a 6-foot-6 girls' basketball player could ever look inconspicuous, H.D. Woodson junior Jeniece Johnson pulled that off this season, quietly becoming an afterthought while the Warriors' four-guard offense ran roughshod up and down the court. Johnson was often left watching from the back court.

Last night, though, Johnson stood front and center, using her size to overpower and frustrate Bishop McNamara in the City Title Game. She had 14 points, 12 rebounds and 4 blocks and forced the fourth-ranked Mustangs countless times to reconsider driving the lane as she led No. 6 Woodson to a 61-55 victory before an announced crowd of 6,258 at Verizon Center.

"I knew before the game that they didn't have any big girls," said Johnson, who has orally committed to North Carolina State, "so I knew I had to play smart, use my height, use my weight and stretch my arms out."

Woodson (26-5) became the first D.C. Interscholastic Athletic Association champion to win the City Title since Theodore Roosevelt in 2004 and the third in the past 16 years.

After losing in this game two straight years and seven of the past 11, Woodson entered this season only more determined to end that drought. The Warriors stacked their nonleague schedule with powerhouse opponents from across the nation, with the goal that each one would help prepare them for this game.

"This is what we played for all season," Woodson Coach Frank Oliver said. "This was the goal."

Johnson, typically quiet and reserved -- and comfortable deferring shots to Woodson's trio of standout guards, senior Patrice Johnson (14 points), junior Bernisha Pinkett (14 points) and sophomore Ronika Ransford (11 points) -- felt an unusual sense of confidence earlier in the day.

"She came up to me in school and told me: 'I got us tonight. Don't worry,' " Ransford said. "I was like, 'Okay,' but I didn't know what she had planned. But J.J. dominated. She played to her potential."

Johnson opened the scoring with a nifty short jump-hook, and appeared effortless when she was most dominant. Three times she scored off rebounds by simply standing flat-footed and picking the ball from over the heads of McNamara defenders.

"Just wait until she learns how to jump," former longtime Woodson coach Bob Headen quipped afterward.

Neither team enjoyed more than a four-point lead until midway through the third quarter, when McNamara senior forward Kala Nwachukwu was assessed her fourth foul. She went to the bench with 15 points and McNamara leading 37-35.

Woodson promptly went on a game-clinching run, scoring 13 of the game's next 15 points to take a 48-39 lead early in the fourth quarter. It included a 6-minute 37-second span during which McNamara (23-8) was held without a field goal.

"Our players depend on [Nwachukwu] a whole lot," McNamara Coach Rob Surratt said. "But we didn't do what we needed. We didn't run the floor and that gave them a chance to get back and set their defense and let [Johnson] get back there."

After McNamara scored five straight points to cut the deficit to 48-44, Johnson hit a layup off a beautiful feed from Ransford and McNamara got no closer.