Lew Freedman, trib.com, December 26, 2013
The three-second-long play that was its own highlight reel, the one that any basketball fan would desire to watch on film more than "Hoosiers" encompassed several of Kaylee Johnson's extraordinary hoop talents.
First the 6-foot-2 Natrona center blocked a Billings Senior player's shot. Then, with the same long and wiry arms that intimidate shorter opponents on defense, she batted the ball to herself. Then Johnson scooped up the loose ball, dribbled to the basket and threw in a lay-up.
Announcer Doris Burke would have needed throat surgery after reacting to the play. Candace Parker would have been jealous.
If Casper is off-Broadway for the finest girls high school basketball player in Wyoming, it would be wise to invest in tickets to see the show now. Once Johnson boards the plane for the West Coast where she has determined she will further her education at Stanford University next fall the only glimpses of her game in these parts will be if she returns for vacation and shoots around in the driveway.
Or, as Fillies coach Doug Diehl put it about her Wyoming fans watching Johnson shoot, dribble, rebound, or block shots again -- all of which she does with consummate smoothness -- "Except on TV."
Stanford, a perennial power coached by the legendary Tara Vanderveer, inked Johnson to a scholarship and that alone is a compliment. It will be possible to see Johnson play on television with Stanford, and although she is only a 7-0 record into her high school senior season, someday it also may be possible to watch her perform her magic on TV in the WNBA.
Johnson is very skilled at just about every aspect of the game, and she is friendly and polite. That's off the court. On it, she has an assassin's instinct, the you-can't-stop-me confidence that thrusts daggers into opponents' hearts. Johnson doesn't wish to offend her teammates by acting as a one-woman team, but she recognizes when it is appropriate to flip the switch and take over a game.
That moment arrived -- not specifically requested by Diehl -- but in Johnson's head, after the Fillies trailed Billings Senior 26-25 at halftime in Natrona's last game before the Christmas break. Johnson glanced at the scoreboard, noted that the usually well-balanced Fillies were not shooting well, and figuratively hoisted the team onto her slender, but firm shoulders.
Johnson wears her dark hair tied up in a bun and held in place by a thick, black headband. Over the eight minutes each of the third and fourth quarters Johnson mixed it up on the boards, used her long arms to discourage Broncs players from attempting shots in her vicinity, made short jumpers and dazzled with clever, slithering moves to the hoop for lay-ups. Johnson was the unruffled go-to-gal on offense and the goalie-like last line of protection on defense.
It was a pretty impressive stretch of exercise, but her hair never budged on the way to a 32-point scoring day.
Johnson said it was not until after 8th grade when basketball became her true sport of choice. Diehl played a role in her ditching volleyball by basically telling Johnson she could become a very special basketball player and get a free education out of it.
"I've been doing this a long time," said Diehl, who has coached kids since 1989. "I've never had anyone with the mental toughness and the work ethic she brings. She has a great motor that keeps her going. If you ever want to be impressed with the lady, you should see her in the weight room squatting 225 three times."
Diehl knows an all-state player when he sees one, but he considers Johnson to be better than the typical all-state star.
"She's in a different world," Diehl said. "I can have a great high school athlete, but she is an elite athlete."
One humorous aspect of Johnson's recruitment by Stanford is that it will prevent her from thinking she is one of a kind. That's because Stanford already has a Kailee Johnson on the squad. Really. The other Johnson, a 6-3 freshman, is from Portland, Oregon.
"What are the chances?" Casper's Johnson said with a laugh. "I thought, 'How are they going to do the jerseys?' It's one letter different."
Yes, Johnson joked, that's why Vanderveer recruited her, just because her name is Kaylee Johnson. Maybe Vanderveer was just being smart in concluding there is no such thing as too much Kaylee Johnson or too many Kal(i)ee Johnsons.
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