March 6, 2010

LOGAN, Utah - Utah State senior center Nicole Johnson has been a main-stay for the women's basketball team for the last four years and in doing so has racked up some quality stats and will end her USU career as one of the most decorated defensive players in school history. Johnson will leave Utah State as the career leader in blocks, and is in the top-ten in minutes played.

Johnson attributed working hard in the offseason as a big reason for being a key contributor the last four years.

"A lot of hard work, and never stop playing," said Johnson of her personal defensive goals. "I played year-round after high school and it gave me an opportunity to work on my skills and work with other people and be able to read the offensive players so I can block them. Obviously I put in my time here so that I could be one of those types of players."

After all of her hard work and time she has put in as an Aggie, Johnson has found her niche on the team.

"I would say blocks are my specialty but defense is my favorite thing to play. I love playing defense, I love getting blocks, I love getting rebounds, I love stopping a girl, and making the other team make mistakes; those are my favorite things," said the Aggie center.

Johnson grew up in Vancouver, Wash., and attended high school at Columbia River, where she graduated sixth in her class of 284 with a 3.9 GPA. She has continued her scholastic mastery here at USU where she has been academic all-WAC every year she has been at USU (2007, 2008, 2009).

The Aggie student-athlete admits that she chose USU for its location and the educational opportunities. She likely could have gotten a scholarship for her scholastics, but was grateful when the Lady Aggies offered her a scholarship to play basketball.

"I was looking for a scholarship and they gave me an opportunity and I took it. I was looking at other colleges but I'm glad I took it," said the senior from Washington.

Although Johnson has enjoyed her time playing on the court with the Aggies, some of her fondest memories have come off the court with her teammates.

"Some of the silly things that go on in practice; stuff like girls air-balling free throws in practice. Also some of the experience on road trips; the experiences we've had on team flights or having to stay an extra night in a hotel, or postponing the game, or having to get out of the bus because the bus can't make it up the hill. The experiences all together are great," Johnson said reminiscing about her favorite moments with the team.

Johnson said that the relationships that she has gained are her favorite part of playing on the women's basketball team. She acknowledged that she'll probably never have an experience quite like this again.

Some of Johnson's hobbies outside of basketball include going backpacking and hiking in her spare time when the weather in Logan is good enough, along with just hanging out with her friends. She also admitted that she doesn't know what she'll do with herself without basketball in her life.

"I need to figure that out soon because the season is about to end," said the Aggie senior, jokingly. She was honest when giving her feelings about having only a few games left in college career.

"I'm freaking out about that, but I'm trying not to think about that right now," Johnson said admittedly. Johnson was candid yet optimistic about the last game of the season against Hawai'i and the chances of the Aggie women going into the WAC Tournament and what she would like to do to help the team.

"We've been struggling a little bit lately, but we can finish it out the best we can going into the WAC tournament and give everyone a run for their money. I want to get some more blocks personally because I haven't gotten any in the last couple games. I just got to make a difference somehow and keep this thing going," Johnson said.

Johnson came into 2009-2010 season with 85 career blocks and 248 career rebounds. Entering Saturday's regular-season finale, Johnson is first on the team with 45 blocks and third on the team in rebounds with 111.

Johnson surely has a bright future ahead of her in whatever she does after she leaves USU, but for now it's all about helping the Aggies finish the season strong.