Johnston named preseason All-Big Sky

Montana senior point guard McKenzie Johnston was voted to the seven-player Preseason All-Big Sky Conference Team the league announced Wednesday morning.

The preseason coaches' and media polls will be released Thursday morning.

Johnston was joined on the team by Montana State seniors Fallyn Freije and Oliana Squires, Portland State junior Kylie Jimenez, Sacramento State senior Kennedy Nicholas, Idaho State senior Estefania Ors and Idaho sophomore Gina Marxen.

Freije was named preseason MVP in what will be her lone season playing for the Bobcats. A two-time honorable mention All-Big Sky selection at North Dakota, Freije sat out last season after transferring.

She averaged 13.2 points and 7.7 rebounds for the Fighting Hawks in 2017-18 as a junior.

Squires was voted third-team All-Big Sky last season after averaging 11.4 points and 3.8 assists.

Jimenez, who started all 33 games on Portland State's NCAA tournament team last season, was the Big Sky Freshman of the Year in 2017-18, honorable mention all-league last winter.

Marxen was voted Freshman of the Year last season for an Idaho team that won the regular-season title at 16-4, one game ahead of Northern Colorado and Idaho State.

Ors is the lone senior on Idaho State's 2019-20 roster. She was voted the Big Sky Freshman of the Year in 2016-17, Top Reserve in 2017-18 and honorable mention last season.

Nicholas was voted third-team All-Big Sky as a junior after averaging 13.0 points and 11.1 rebounds.

And then there is Johnston, who has the thinnest resume on the list -- honorable mention All-Big Sky as a sophomore -- but is the point guard on what will be one of the Big Sky's deepest and most experienced teams, with seven players back who have starting experience.

She led Montana last season in both scoring (12.6/g) and assists (4.1/g), and ranked fourth in rebounding (5.2/g) while playing more than 37 minutes per game.

Consider it a career achievement award for a player who has taken the court 90 times for the Lady Griz -- 82 of them starts -- and logged more than 3,100 minutes while piling up 1,001 points.

You can date her thusly: she was a true freshman on Robin Selvig's final team, an era that feels more and more distant by the day.

She redshirted that season, then spent the offseason dreaming of playing alongside Kayleigh Valley, the Big Sky's best player, and chasing championships. None of it happened.

Her first game against a Division I opponent came in November 2016, when Montana faced a loaded South Dakota State team in Iowa City.

The outmanned Lady Griz lost that game 84-43. Making her first collegiate start, Johnston fought her way to 12 points, four rebounds, three steals and two assists. Performance as harbinger.

Nothing has come easily since, as Johnston has had to forge ahead each season with a rotating cast of players based on that day's (or week's or month's or season's) injury list.

"Not very often do you have a player who starts for four years. The point guard position is a tough position to do that," said Lady Griz coach Shannon Schweyen.

"She's just been a warrior for us. She's had broken noses year after year and just gone through a bunch of different things."

If there is justice in the basketball universe, the Lady Griz would have a healthy season and be competing for a championship with a full roster when the snow begins to melt.

And if that were to happen, it would be a new role for Johnston. She would need to be relied upon less for the team to accomplish more and for opportunities to open up for different players to develop.

It would keep her healthier and fresher going into March -- and make Montana stronger -- and for a team with championship aspirations, that's the most important thing of all.

"I'm excited for her to be surrounded by a great cast this year and hopefully have a little pressure taken off of her with our depth," said Schweyen. "That would be good for her."

Just imagine what might be possible with a lighter burden to bear, the heights that might be reached.

University of Montana Athletics

Players Mentioned

McKenzie Johnston

Kayleigh Valley

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