MYKERIA JOHNSON

Walker County Girls’ Co-player of the Year

Like her teammate, Latyah Barber, Lafayette’s Mykeria Johnson also came in with some expectations when she first took the floor for the Lady Ramblers as a freshman.

The rookie shooting guard played most of that year like a seasoned veteran, earning first team All-region honors in 6-AAAA by averaging 11.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.4 steals a game.

The following season, she built on that success and averaged 14.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.3 blocks per night to help send the Orange-and-black to the GHSA state tournament for the very first time.

However, this past season saw her take a big leap forward.

Johnson led the Lady Ramblers in scoring (17.6) and was second on the team in rebounding (5.4), while adding 2.3 steals and over one assist per game. She shot 42.7 percent from behind the 3-point line and 71.4 from the charity stripe to earn first-team All-region honors once again.

Today, for the first time in her Lafayette career, she shares a portion of the Walker County Girls’ Co-basketball Player of the Year award.

“It feels great,” she said. “I feel like I got the opportunity to share with my teammates and I did what I had to do this year.”

“I tried to step my game up (this past season),” she continued. “I came in as a freshman in a starting

position and I felt like I didn’t do as good as I was expected to do, so I just had to step my game up for my other teammates.”

Johnson feels that she is a more complete player now than she was when she first started out at LHS.

“I’ve learned that I can do more than I used to do,” she added. “I used to just shoot threes and now I’ve learned that I can guard (on defense) and I can come in the paint and do more than what I’m

used to.”

With Barber among those graduating, a lot of responsibility will fall on Johnson’s shoulders next season, not just for scoring and rebounding, but to be a team leader.

“That’s my goal, to be a leader (and) to guide my team to the same things we’ve done the past couple of years,” she explained. “I want to score more than I did this last year and get back to state.”

Johnson also added that she had been in contact with some colleges, but has not received any offers as of yet. However, she says playing in college is definitely one of her goals.