March 7, 2011
WAC Honors
Adrienne Johnson
RUSTON - Louisiana Tech senior forward Adrienne Johnson dominated Western Athletic Conference opponents this year while helping the Lady Techsters capture the regular season title along the way.
On Monday, Johnson was rewarded for her record-setting season when she was named the WAC Player of the Year by a vote of the league coaches. She is the eighth Lady Techsters to earn the WAC Player of the Year award in the last 10 years.
In addition to Johnson, senior guard Tarkeisha Wysinger-Mackey and junior guard Jasmine Bendolph both earned all-WAC second team honors. Johnson and Wysinger-Mackey were also named to the league's All-Defensive Team.
Nevada's Shavon Moore was named the WAC Defensive Player of the Year while Utah State's Ashlee Brown was named the WAC Newcomer of the Year. Utah State head coach Raegan Pebley was named the WAC Coach of the Year.
Johnson earned her accolades after averaging 21.9 points and 9.6 rebounds while shooting 51 percent from the field, 39 percent from the three-point line and 85 percent from the free throw line. She recorded 14 double doubles and 18 games of 20 or more points.
In WAC play, she led the league in scoring (22.3) and minutes played (38.4), ranked second in field goal percentage (48.3), third in rebounding (10.0), fourth in free throw percentage (85.0), seventh in blocks (0.8) and 10th in steals (1.9).
She was named the WAC Player of the Week a program-record five times during the season (nine for her career) and was recently named to the Wade Trophy Watch List, joining a group of 34 of the best players in the country.
The All-American candidate has scored 636 points this year, which ranks as the seventh most ever by a LA Tech senior. She needed only 47 more points to crack the Top 10 list for most points scored in a single season.
Johnson recently passed Tori Harrison into seventh place on the Tech all-time scoring list and needs only 41 more points to pass both Vickie Johnson and Sheila Ethridge into fifth place.
It's the third straight year Johnson has been named first team all-conference, becoming the first Lady Techsters to earn this distinction since former Kodak All-American Tamicha Jackson (1996-2000). She also joins Amber Obaze as the only two Lady Techsters to ever earn conference All-Defensive Team honors three times in their careers.
Wysinger-Mackey earned place on the league's second team after recording the best season of her college career. In WAC-only games, she ranked 8th in scoring (13.8 ppg), 15th in rebounding (5.7 ppg), 10th in assists (2.8 ppg), 5th in steals (2.29 spg) and 2nd in minutes played (36.4 mpg).
She scored in double figures in 11 of the 14 league games, including a season-high 24 points against Nevada on Feb. 28 and 23 points against New Mexico State Feb. 12. In Tech's triple overtime win over Fresno State, Wysinger-Mackey scored 14 points and grabbed a career-high 15 rebounds while setting a program single-game record with 51 minutes played.
Wysinger-Mackey also added 21 points and six rebounds in Tech's overtime win over Fresno State in Ruston on Feb. 5. The all-WAC award is the first of her career as is the spot on the league's All-Defensive team.
Bendolph earned her first ever all-league award of her LA Tech career, joining Wysinger-Mackey on the second team. The Mobile, Alabama native overcame on-going health issues all season long to rank 1st in the WAC in assist-to-turnover ratio (1.94) and 2nd in assists (4.38).
She also averaged 9.1 points and 3.4 rebounds in WAC-only games while ranking fifth in free throw percentage at 84.3 percent. After going scoreless in the first two WAC games of the season, Bendolph recorded double digit scoring games in seven of the last 14, including scoring 21 points in Tech's overtime win over Fresno State Feb. 5.
She also recorded her first career double double with 15 points and a career-high 13 assists in Tech's contest at Nevada on Feb. 28.
It's the first time LA Tech has placed at least three players on the all-WAC team since the 2005-06 season when four Lady Techsters earned conference postseason honors.
Tech will open defense of its Western Athletic Conference Tournament title Friday when the Lady Techsters play at 2 p.m. CT at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
