Johnston honored after all

All-Big Sky Conference Teams

She lost best friend and Big Sky Conference preseason MVP Kayleigh Valley to a season-ending knee injury in October and backcourt running mate Sophia Stiles for the same reason last month.

She saw Alycia Harris announce to her teammates in the fall that she was retiring from basketball and watched in practice last Tuesday as Jace Henderson rolled her ankle, a bad enough sprain that Henderson missed last week's games and is questionable for this week's Big Sky tournament in Reno.

So when McKenzie Johnston was left off Sunday's announcement of the Big Sky's all-conference teams, as were the other four players who made honorable mention, a mistake fixed later that night, it felt about right. It's just been that kind of season.

"When you're losing your teammates like she has this year, when you're a point guard and they're the people you're counting on distributing to and completing your great passes, it's never easy," said Lady Griz coach Shannon Schweyen, whose team is this week's tournament's No. 8 seed.

Montana plays No. 9 Sacramento State at 1 p.m. (MT) on Monday at the Reno Events Center, with the winner advancing to face No. 1 Northern Colorado at 1 p.m. (MT) on Wednesday.

Fifteen players were voted to the Big Sky's first, second and third teams. Johnston was among the five players who picked up at least three votes but didn't have enough points to crack the third team.

The All-Big Sky teams were highlighted by Northern Colorado's Savannah Smith, named Most Valuable Player. Joining Smith on the first team were Eastern Washington's Delaney Hodgins, Weber State's Larryn Brooks, Idaho's Mikayla Ferenz and North Dakota's Lexi Klabo.

The 2017-18 season was supposed to be a redemption tour for the Lady Griz, a do-over after last year's seven-win finish, all precipitated by Valley's first season-ending knee injury, followed a month later by Harris's, leaving a team alarmingly young and short on experience.

Out of necessity, Johnston had to add scoring to her role as playmaker. It wasn't out of her comfort zone but out of character. Johnston is a giver, just as happy, if not more so, to see others finishing on opportunities that she helped create than doing it herself.

With so many weapons around her this season, at least in theory, it wasn't supposed to be like that again. Then came Valley's injury. Then Harris's decision. Then Stiles and Henderson. So much for theory.

So Johnston did what she had to do. She's led the team in scoring (11.6/g) and assists (145), and ranked second in rebounds (5.5/g) while helping her once-again shorthanded team go from seven wins to 13.

She's kept everyone involved, finishing second in the Big Sky in assists, while taking more shots than anybody else on the team, a statistic that likely strikes her as an anathema.

"She had some experience having to do that last year, but she's someone who thrives on good passes," said Schweyen. "I think every point guard loves to make great assists and make other people better.

"But she's going to do what she has to do to make the team around her better, to make this team everything it can be."

The redemption tour that was scheduled to begin in November, a season when Montana reasserted itself within the basketball world, had its moments, but any momentum was done in time and again by the latest setback.

And all of a sudden it's March, another season come and mostly gone. Johnston may not have the team around her in Reno that everyone was expecting last fall, but she's here, and that may just be enough. Because it's a time for madness. A time for heroes to emerge.

University of Montana Athletics

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Players Mentioned

Alycia Harris

Jace Henderson

McKenzie Johnston

Sophia Stiles

Kayleigh Valley

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