Good advice, big victory

Girls basketball: Jenny Johnson pours in 24 points to help Tualatin get a 53-42 win over Centennial

By Dan Brood

The Times, Mar 8, 2010

HELPING HAND — Tualatin’s Meaghan Cichoke helps Jenny Johnson up during the Wolves’ 53-42 win over Centennial.

DAN BROOD / The Times

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TUALATIN – Early in the day on Tuesday, Tualatin High School junior Jenny Johnson got a bit of advice from Timberwolf girls basketball coach Todd Jukkala.

Johnson took that advice to heart.

Then, later on Tuesday, Johnson helped take Tualatin to a big postseason victory.

Johnson, who plays at wing for the Tualatin squad, came off the bench to score a career-high 24 points as she helped lead the Wolves to a 53-42 win over Centennial in a Class 6A state playoff second-round game played Tuesday at Tualatin High School.

“This is really big for us,” Johnson said after the victory. “I’m so happy. I don’t want this to end.”

With the victory, Tualatin, the No. 2 seed out of the Pacific Conference, improved to 20-4 on the season. The Wolves also advance to the second round of the state playoffs. They’ll host Jesuit Friday at 7 p.m. with the winner advancing to state tournament.

“Oh, this was a huge win for us,” said Tualatin senior post Julie Arndorfer, who had a big second half for the Wolves in Tuesday’s victory. “Now we’re going to focus all of our energy on Jesuit.”

Johnson, with her offensive output on Tuesday, looked to be one of the big reasons why Tualatin advanced to second round of the state playoffs.

“Jenny is my T.A. (teacher’s assistant) and earlier today, I told her to be aggressive out there tonight,” Jukkala said. “Yesterday in practice, she was real aggressive. I told her she needed to be that way in the game – and she was aggressive. She did a great job.”

“I hadn’t been confident lately, and (Jukkala) told me I should be confident,” Johnson said. “We talked today and he told me to come out aggressive. So that was my goal tonight – to be aggressive, attack the basket and hit my shot.”

Done and done.

Centennial, the No. 4 team from the Mt. Hood Conference, grabbed the early advantage in Tuesday’s game. Eagle senior guard Melissa McQuade sank a pair of three-pointers in the first quarter to help Centennial claim a 13-8 lead at the end of the period.

But the Wolves, and Johnson, got rolling in the second quarter. Johnson scored nine points in the period and junior post Emily Ben-Jumbo added a pair of baskets as Tualatin rallied to take a 23-22 halftime lead.

Tualatin was slowly able to add onto its lead in the third quarter. Senior guard Meaghan Cichoke sank a free throw and Arndorfer went 2-for-2 from the stripe after she was fouled on a follow-up shot to give the Wolves a 26-22 advantage with 4 minutes and 22 seconds left in the period.

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