Shenise Johnson Scores 11 Pts in Preseason Game

In so many ways, rookie guard Shenise Johnson is a portrait of today's Silver Stars. She's young, talented, skilled and full of potential.
But with a less than a week of WNBA training camp under her belt, Johnson — like a lot of teammates — is learning on the fly, adjusting to the speed and physical play of the game.

That ebb and flow was the glaring imprint of the Silver Stars' 69-67 loss to Indiana in a WNBA preseason game at Trinity University on Saturday.
The Fever scored the game's final seven points, including Briann January's game-winning layup with 2.7 seconds remaining. Former Silver Stars guard Roneeka Hodges led Indiana with 16 points.

Silver Stars guard Danielle Robinson barely missed a heave from halfcourt as time expired.

“I don't think it was even a typical preseason game because I think it's so early,” Silver Stars coach Dan Hughes said. “Like I told the team, it gave us an opportunity to take a small look at what we did in the first week. We had no Sophia Young. You had no Becky Hammon. You had no Tangela Smith. So, it's really hard to really say what our team is just yet. But we did learn a little bit about other people.''

Young scored four points in eight minutes but didn't play in the second half after tweaking her groin. Hughes said Young could have played, but he decided against it. Smith didn't dress for the game, and Hammon is expected to arrive in town Monday.

With many of the team's big names either sidelined or not in town, Saturday's game provided some of the Silver Stars' younger players a moment to show what they can do.

Johnson, the team's first-round pick, had 11 points and five rebounds in 26 minutes. Her jump shot with 2:45 left put the Silver Stars ahead 67-62. The basket concluded a 13-0 run that saw the Silver Stars turn around a 62-54 deficit.

Danielle Adams led the Silver Stars with 12 points, and Jia Perkins and Ziomara Morrison scored 10 apiece.

But after taking a five-point lead with under three minutes left, the Silver Stars didn't score again, missing their final four shots and committing the last of their 22 turnovers.

“It was extremely physical, a different game,” Johnson said of her first WNBA game. “It was fun.”

“It's extremely hard to try and get chemistry together in five days,” she added. “It's not enough time. But like Sophia said, May 19, it'll be a different, different story, different result.''


(mysanantonio.com)