Johnson reflects on long recovery ahead of Senior Night

Jo’Nah Johnson’s entire identity was built around being a basketball player. But as she sat on a trainer’s table at Texas Tech in July 2020, for the first time in her life that she could remember, she wasn’t able to be that.

“I’m sorry,” the Red Raiders’ trainer said to her.

“Why?” Johnson asked. “What’s wrong?”

Moments earlier, Johnson was working on her jab step during one of the team’s first practices since the 2019-20 season ended abruptly due to the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Johnson was gearing up for her senior season after playing in 27 games and starting in 18 at point guard for the Red Raiders. She’d spent her first two seasons at Central Oklahoma and Northeastern Oklahoma A&M College, respectively, and averaged 6.8 points, 3.9 assists and 1.1 steals per game during her first year of NCAA Division I basketball. Johnson helped Texas Tech go 18-10 overall and the team was slated to face Kansas in the first round of the 2020 Big 12 tournament before things shut down.

After one of the jab steps, Johnson fell to the floor. She was annoyed, thinking someone had thrown a ball that knocked her over. She yelled at her teammates, asking who threw the ball and why no one gave her a head’s up that it was sailing toward her.

But her teammates responded with blank stares. Nobody had thrown a ball.

Johnson tried standing up but couldn’t do it on her own. She felt fine putting weight on her left foot but the hardwood felt uneven on her right. It was almost like her foot was hanging by a thread.

She was helped off the floor and taken to the trainer. Johnson was told that her Achilles tendon was torn.

“I just started bawling,” Johnson said.

The Edmond, Okla. native’s season was over before it began. It put her in a dark place and caused her to turn away from the sport. During the first few months of her recovery, Johnson walked into practice in tears every day, wishing she could be anywhere else.

“It was hard. It was real hard. I was depressed for a long time because I just wanted to be out there,” Johnson said. “I had to find myself, without basketball.”

Johnson always had an inkling she wanted to be a coach after her playing career was over. But spending the course of a full year on the sideline, she discovered she had a true passion for it. It helped her rebuild the way she saw herself — she realized she had more value than just what she could do as a player.

Texas Tech went 10-15 overall in 2020-21 under first-year head coach Krista Gerlich. After the season, many of Johnson’s teammates entered the transfer portal — eight of the Red Raiders’ players did not return for the 2021-22 season.

That included Johnson, who decided she needed a fresh start. When Johnson’s name popped up in the portal, former Texas State assistant coach Deidre Johnson encouraged head coach Zenerae Antoine to look into it. 

“She really pushed me, ‘Hey, you need to really watch this film. This kid, she’s pretty good. And she’s injured, but she’s pretty good,’” Antoine said. “So I said, ‘Alright, let me take a look.’ And watching Jo’Nah’s film, she definitely warranted a phone call.”

The Bobcats were in need of another guard after graduating former starter Avionne Alexander. Antoine envisioned Jo’Nah sliding in next to senior Kennedy Taylor in the backcourt and running a two-point guard system — something the head coach has done multiple times during her 11-year tenure with the maroon and gold.

It was enough to sell the Jo’Nah on playing her final season in San Marcos.

“I just loved that (Antoine) was blunt, straight to the point,” Jo’Nah said. “She laid it out on the table, what it was, what it was going to be and what she knew I could do.”

Jo’Nah — or “Boogie” as she’s sometimes called — has been a welcome addition to Texas State, playing in 21 games, starting 17 and helping the Bobcats find their place in the top half of the Sun Belt with a 13-12 overall record and an 8-5 record in conference play so far.

She’ll play in her final two home games this weekend when the team hosts Arkansas State (11-14, 4-8 Sun Belt) on Thursday at 7 p.m. and Little Rock (14-8, 7-3) on Saturday at 2 p.m., both taking place inside Strahan Arena. It’ll be the end to a long and winding road that Jo’Nah didn’t necessarily know she’d get to go down after such a significant injury.

But she’s ready for the last leg of her journey, eager to represent the place that helped her find her love for basketball again.

“Coming here and then being able to play again and being around people who’s gonna encourage me to be a better me and be more than just a one-dimensional player — that made me find my love,” Johnson said.