Posted by Mechelle Voepel
Temeka Johnson was on the first LSU team to advance to the Women's Final Four. That happened in 2004, when the event was in her native New Orleans. It could have been a potential storybook ending that season, but LSU lost in the semifinals on a last-second steal and basket by Tennessee.
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Temeka Johnson wasn't able to capture an NCAA title with LSU in two Final Four trips. But she's one win from a WNBA championship in Phoenix.
The next season, LSU made it to the Final Four again … but this time fell to eventual champion Baylor in the semis after losing a 15-point lead.
Johnson was then drafted by Washington and was WNBA rookie of the year in 2005. But she was traded to Los Angeles, where she spent the 2006, '07 and '08 seasons. Then, this March, she got the word that she'd been traded to Phoenix.
Was she happy? You bet, because she has fit in well as the Mercury's starting point guard. Now, Johnson is one victory from winning a WNBA championship. Which, considering she wasn't able to win it all at LSU, would be particularly gratifying.
"It means everything to me, honestly," Johnson said. "I can't ask to be with a better group of women to try to accomplish this goal with. We've put in long hours in the gym, doing extra things to help each other. It's there for the taking now if we can get it done. I'm excited about it."
Johnson had 10 points and five assists in Game 4 on Wednesday in Indianapolis. She had to deal with foul trouble -- losing her cool briefly when she and Indiana's Briann January were both called for technical fouls near the end of the second quarter -- but she was a big contributor all night.
"Temeka Johnson caused us some problems," Indiana coach Lin Dunn said after the Mercury's 90-77 victory. "She was very offensively aggressive tonight. When she's knocking down big shots like she did, then they're firing on all cylinders. It wasn't just the big three for them, it was the whole team."
Johnson, though, has really enjoyed playing with that "big three" -- Diana Taurasi, Cappie Pondexter and Penny Taylor -- and being in Corey Gaines' up-tempo system.
As for how the Mercury were able to overcome both the Fever and the 18,000-plus fans at Conseco Fieldhouse cheering against them, Johnson said it was in character for Phoenix.
"It comes from the people in this locker room," she said. "There are veterans and younger players here, and we've learned to keep our composure for each other.
"There were a lot of little things that we weren't doing that added up to big things, which caused us to lose Games 2 and 3. I think we corrected them."
Women's Basketball
