Life in the WNBA Former Tiger star LaTonya Johnson literally played at new heights this year. by Mark Bialek ust a few years ago LaTonya Johnson wouldn’t have had an opportunity to follow fellow Tiger stars Penny Hardaway, Elliot Perry, Lorenzen Wright, and Cedric Henderson into professional basketball. But now the former University of Memphis Lady Tiger does, and she plans to make the most of it in the Women’s National Basketball Association. The WNBA just completed its second regular season, and Johnson became the first former Lady Tiger ever to play pro basketball in the United States. PHOTO BY ROY CAJERO LaTonya as a Lady Tiger Johnson plays for a bad basketball team, the Utah Starzz, but life in the WNBA is not so terrible. “It was very exciting,” Johnson says in a recent phone interview from Salt Lake City. “It was a great experience to get to play against all these great athletes, and it was fun to travel from city to city.” The athletes include women’s players that even the casual Mid-South sports fan has probably heard about, such as Sheryl Swoopes, Lisa Leslie, Rebecca Lobo, and Collierville’s Nikki McCray. The travel took Johnson from New York City to Washington, D.C., to Los Angeles, with many major markets in between. The season certainly wasn’t without its adjustments. Johnson grew up in Winchester, Tennessee, played here in Memphis, and had never spent any significant time in the western United States before moving to Salt Lake City for the season. “At first I was kind of homesick,” Johnson admits. “But I met a lot of people and the people here are really nice. I finally was able to get out and see a lot of things and now I really love it. I’m excited about coming back here next year.” Not only did Johnson have to make adjustments off the court, but she also had to learn her place on the team. From her high-school days at Franklin County High to her days with Joye-Lee McNelis and the Lady Tigers, Johnson had always been a go-to player. She was a first team All-Conference performer three times during college, she was capable of scoring 40 points on any given night, and she was one of the most deadly three-point threats in the nation. As a senior, Johnson did have to share the spotlight with future pro Tamika Whitmore, but she never had to serve as a role player. In Utah, Johnson was a reserve and a role player. It was a roller-coaster ride. As a rookie, Johnson appeared in 28 of 30 games, averaging 18 minutes per game. She saw both ends of the spectrum. She made eight starts and averaged 5.4 points and 1.9 rebounds per game, a decent contribution for a rookie. She had a sub-par shooting year, hitting only 40 percent of field-goal attempts including just 28.6 percent from three-point range. Her season high scoring output was 15 points. “It’s hard, but you have to realize that you’re at a whole different level,” Johnson says of adjusting to her new role in the pros. “It’s kind of good for me because I don’t have any pressure on me. I can just go out there, relax, and play.” The other adjustment for Johnson was losing. In two WNBA seasons, Utah has only won 15 games. This year the Starzz finished 8-22 and in a last-place tie in the Western Division. Utah made a mid-season coaching change, firing Denise Taylor and hiring former NBA head coach and noted character Frank Layden. The change in coaches didn’t alter the results, as the Starzz won only two of the final 11 games with Layden at the helm. Johnson had never previously played on a losing team at any level. The University of Memphis appeared in the NCAA tournament all four seasons she was in the lineup. Never before had the Lady Tigers gone to the “big dance” four consecutive years. At Utah, Johnson had the opportunity to play alongside the tallest player in the WNBA, Margo Dydek, a 7-2 player from Poland, who averaged more than 12 points and 7 rebounds a game while blocking a league-leading 114 shots. “I think Margo will be a great player,” Johnson says. “She needs to get a lot stronger, but she’s really mobile and versatile, and she can even shoot the three-point shot.” Fans are crowding into arenas to see WNBA games. Utah had the third-lowest average attendance in the league, at 8,104 per game. On the whole, the l0-team league drew 1,630,315 fans, an average of 10,869 per game. The league-wide average was up 12 percent from 1997, with the best fan support coming in Washington, D.C., where the expansion Mystics had the worst record in the history of professional basketball at 3-27, but still averaged a league-high 15,910 fans per game. It ain’t a bad gig. Johnson makes more than $20,000 per season for a four-month schedule and she gets to do what she loves. Johnson is enrolled at the University of Memphis this fall. She’s scheduled to graduate next May. So with one pro season under her belt, it’s back to the books. See you at the Lady Tiger games, LaTonya.