Ex-Rider star talks new opportunity
Former Rider University women’s basketball star Stella Johnson spent 40 days as a member of the Phoenix Mercury.
The most she did for them was sign her contract and pick her jersey number.
Johnson was cut by the Mercury on May 26 before she even got to practice with the team.
Thirty-four days passed until the 29th overall selection in April’s virtual draft and the two-time MAAC Player of Year got a call from her agent, who said the Chicago Sky wanted to bring her on. The team officially announced they signed the Denville native on June 29.
“I tried to get into the gym whenever I could, so that was three or four times a week,” Johnson said after her first professional training camp practice concluded. “I didn’t know what was going to happen.”
Tuesday’s training camp at the IMG Acadamy in Bradenton, Florida, was the first organized basketball Johnson had participated in since March 12 when the MAAC Basketball Tournament in Atlantic City was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic. She had only been really doing skill work prior to that.
She said it took a few weeks to find a gym to shoot around in so she could stay active with her trainer. After she was cut from Phoenix, Johnson said she needed to “keep my head up.”
“My agent kept telling me, ‘Let’s be ready. You never know, people are testing positive and they’re opting out of the season,’” Johnson said. “So I tried to stay in shape. It was a surprise when Chicago called my agent and said you might have an opportunity with them.”
Johnson was signed two days after Sky guard Sydney Colson announced on her Twitter account that she had tested positive for COVID-19 and would not be traveling with the team.
Head coach James Wade said Johnson had been on his radar since the second half of her senior year, when she led the nation in scoring at 24.8 points per game.
Wade described her as humble but plays with a high tenacity on the defensive side of the ball with “Jia Perkins potential.”
“The fact that she was leading the league in scoring and was pretty consistent most of the last 14, 13 games of the year we paid attention to her,” the 2019 WNBA Coach of the Year said over Zoom. “The fact that she has a WNBA body, she seemed to have WNBA toughness. She’s really strong for a guard and she’s efficient for her usage rate . ... She’s somebody who has been on our radar for some time and we like her so far here in camp.”
Life in the bubble has not been so bad for Johnson. She has her Pillow Pet named Humphry with her, whom she mentioned was one thing she could not leave home without, and is getting acquainted with her new team.
“I like to chill so being in the hotel, going to practice, coming back and eating — I think that’s perfect for me,” Johnson said.
She’s been trying to learn under tutelage from veterans like Allie Quigley, who ranked second in the WNBA last year in 3-point percentage, converting 44.2 percent, as well as go over film and compare notes on various screen sets and plays to prepare for the season.
Chicago’s first of the 22-game abbreviated season is 12 days away against the Las Vegas Aces and will be nationally televised on ABC.