Sept. 23, 2009
Louisiana Tech has been known as one of the pipelines to the WNBA for more than a decade as 18 former Lady Techster players have been drafted and played in the top basketball league in the world for women.
Three of those former stars were still making noise in this year's WNBA playoffs as former Louisiana Tech stars Betty Lennox and Cheryl Ford led their respective teams into the second round while Vickie Johnson saw her team eliminated - ending what was an impressive 13-year career.
Ford, the 2003 WNBA Rookie of the Year following a decorated career for the Lady Techsters, led the Detroit Shock to a two-game sweep of the Atlanta Dream with a 94-89 victory in Detroit in Game 1 and a 94-79 win in Atlanta in Game 2. Ford, who has been playing this season while still recovering from a knee injury suffered at the end of last year, averaged 8.5 points and 8.5 rebounds in the two wins over Atlanta.
Detroit now faces top-seeded Indiana in a three-game series starting tonight at 7 p.m. CST in a game that can be seen on ESPN2.
Lennox and the Los Angeles Sparks had a tougher time advancing but did so by taking two of three games against Seattle.
Lennox, who was the 2000 WNBA Rookie of the Year after starring for the Lady Techsters for two seasons, averaged 11.3 points and 3.0 rebounds in the three-game series against the Storm. She scored 17 points in a Game 2 loss in Seattle.
The Sparks will open a three-game series against top-seed Phoenix tonight at 9 p.m. in a game that can be seen on ESPN2.
Johnson, a two-time WNBA All-Star, averaged 15.3 points and 4.7 assists for the San Antonio Silver Stars but it wasn't enough as they fell in three games to Phoenix. Johnson, a two-time Kodak All-American for the Lady Techsters in the mid 1990s, announced her retirement earlier in the year.
However, she saved one of her best performances for her last as she poured in 24 points and grabbed six rebounds in a 100-92 loss in Game 3 to Phoenix. Johnson was one of only four players remaining in the WNBA from the original cast in the league's inaugural season of 1996.
She ends her WNBA career as the all-time leader in games and minutes played. On June 13, 2008, Johnson logged her 11,000th career WNBA minute. Following the game, when told about the milestone, Johnson replied, "No wonder my legs are so tired."
Johnson ends her career with more than 4,000 points, more than 1,500 assists and more than 1,200 rebounds.
Her former LA Tech coach and five-time Hall of Famer Leon Barmore described Johnson best, "She knows the right way to do things. She simply does what it takes to win and she's so unselfish doing it. She's obviously one of the greats the WNBA has ever had because she's played the entire time and played with such integrity."
