By David Steinle
Any person who has ever coached at LSU will say that the New Orleans area is the most important area of Louisiana to recruit. The Crescent City has produced countless athletes who have brought distinction to the Fighting Tigers with All-SEC and All-America performances, as well as stellar careers on the professional level.
Coming off of her second Elite Eight appearance following the 1999-2000 season, Lady Tiger basketball coach Sue Gunter needed to only turn to the Crescent City to find three players who would help Gunter continue her mission to move LSU into the ranks of the elite in women’s college basketball.
Not only were all three members of her 2000 recruiting class from the Big Easy, but also all three were familiar with each other as they were teammates in AAU basketball during the off-season, which would ease their transition to the next level.
But when the 2000-2001 season began, twins Doneeka and Roneeka Hodges were wearing LSU uniforms, but the third member of Gunter’s prized New Orleans haul, Temeka Johnson, wasn’t even practicing with the Lady Tigers.
Johnson was declared academically ineligible, falling short of the required score on the ACT and the minimum grade point average. As a non-qualifier, Johnson could not receive athletic aid and now had to practice on her own without the benefit of teammates or coaches.
“It was hard to motivate myself to practice on my own,” Johnson said. “I realized I had to keep my focus and realize the goal I was working towards.”
It was a sobering wake-up call. Prior to that, everything had come easy for Johnson, who scored nearly 3,000 points and dished out more than 1,000 assists at Bonnabel High School and once scored 62 points in a game.
“Sitting out and watching the game I love was the hardest part,” Johnson said. “But it was a very good experience, because I became a better person both on and off the court, which was very good for me.”
Johnson gained her eligibility following the end of the fall 2001 semester, and with nearly two years of rust to shake off, she figured to ease her way into Gunter’s rotation behind experienced point guard Kisha James.
But on December 18, with the Tigers on their way to an easy victory over Mercer, Johnson’s role changed overnight. James went down for the second time in her LSU career with a torn anterior cruciate ligament in her left knee, leaving “TJ” as the only healthy point guard.
Johnson started her first game two days later against Rice and scored six points, then posted double figures in back-to-back games against Prairie View and Colorado.
“It was very scary in the beginning, because I was expecting to learn a lot from Kisha,” Johnson said. ‘Through the grace of God, I was able to step up when Kisha went down.”
One week in January would transform Johnson from an adequate starter into a star who would give LSU a new offensive dimension.
It started at home against 18th-ranked Florida, when Johnson dished out 14 assists in a surprisingly easy 84-59 victory over the Gators. The 14 assists tied an LSU school record that was set in 1977 by Brenda McGuffee, a good five years before Johnson was even born. Although LSU would fall short in their next outing at powerhouse Tennessee, Johnson scored 12 points, dished out eight assists and even grabbed five rebounds, leaving an impression on the Lady Vols that would be made again at a later time.
Seven days after tying the assist mark, Johnson re-wrote the LSU record book by dishing out 15 assists at Ole Miss for sole possession of the school record. She posted two more double doubles against Auburn (12 points, 13 assists) and Mississippi State (14 points, 11 assists) as the Lady Tigers, despite being down to seven healthy players by the end of the regular season, were making a push for their fourth consecutive NCAA tournament appearance.
Despite finishing fourth in the SEC and drawing a first-round bye in the SEC Tournament, the experts felt the Lady Tigers’ 15-10 record still needed improvement if they were to secure an invitation to the Big Dance. Johnson’s 13 points helped LSU down Kentucky in the quarterfinals, but the Lady Tigers’ semifinal assignment was against none other than Tennessee, the six-time national champion that threw fear into the hearts of the 11 other members of the conference, not to mention other top powers across the country.
Lady Vols coach Pat Summitt knew that Johnson was dangerous after the previous meeting in Knoxville, but the Big Orange was still powerless to hold off the diminutive playmaker. Tennessee’s explosive point guard, Kara Lawson, scored a career high 27 points, but Johnson more than held her own on the offensive end, pouring in 18 points and dishing out 10 assists as LSU came away with its most improbable win in the 28-year history of the program, 81-80.
For her efforts in the two tournament victories, plus a 22-point performance in the championship game against Vanderbilt, Johnson was named to the all-tournament team, making her just the seventh Lady Tiger to earn that honor and the first since Pietra Gay in 1996.
“That was an exciting game for the fans and for those of us who played,” Johnson said. “I wasn’t really concerned about Tennessee’s ranking at first, but as we got deeper into the tournament, we realized that we were really playing well and needed to keep it up.”
Despite Johnson’s best efforts, the Lady Tigers lost to the homestanding Commodores for the SEC tournament crown, but won the war by earning a number six seed in the NCAA West Regional. Johnson was again on her game with 16 points in the first-round victory over Santa Clara, but the altitude of Colorado caught up with the thin Lady Tiger bench, and the Buffaloes would end LSU’s Cinderella run.
“Playing with only seven players helps you realize that you can overcome any adversity,” Johnson said. “It let me know that we can overcome any obstacles that come our way.”
Johnson and LSU flew under the radar screen in 2001-02, but that is far, far from the case this year. Johnson earned pre-season All-SEC and All-America honors, and complimented by fifth-year seniors James and DeTrina White, the Hodges twins and all-everything freshman Seimone Augustus, the Lady Tigers are poised to make Gunter’s lifelong dream of a berth in the Final Four come true.
“I not only feel good about being in the top five, but I feel good about the people we have,” Johnson said. “We have at least eight or nine that come in, and any five on the floor we have at one time can produce.”
Although it might be a long way off, Johnson’s ultimate dream could be realized at the end of senior season if the Lady Tigers can reach the 2004 Final Four in Johnson’s hometown of New Orleans.
“It would be the best thing that would ever happen to me in my basketball career,” Johnson said. “For my family to see us in the Final Four in New Orleans would be a blessing.”