Johnson, Grayson the brightest of women stars

By Ron Brocato, Sports
Clarion Herald

Over the last three decades, schools in the Archdiocese of New Orleans have produced six women’s state basketball champions.

And the first title in that era came from St. Mary’s Academy, whose 1997-98 team became the first all-girls’ school in Orleans Parish to accomplish that feat when senior Shondra Johnson led the Cougars to a 48-39 victory over Assumption in the Sweet 16 Tournament.

A 30-point-per-game scorer, Johnson went on to play at the University of Alabama.

Since St. Mary’s groundbreaking title, five other local Catholic school teams have added championship titles.

Cabrini defeated Glen Oaks for the Class 4A title in 2004; Archbishop Chapelle claimed the 2009 5A crown by beating Lafayette; and Mount Carmel became the first of the Catholic girls’ schools to win twice – beating Destrehan in 2014 then Denham Springs in 2016.

Ursuline Academy also became a double champion with victories over Rayne for the Class 4A title in 2016 (the last year before the LHSAA divided teams by select and non-select), and in 2018 by routing Lee High of Baton Rouge for the Division II trophy.

Also in 2018, in a game that was telecast back to New Orleans, St. Katharine Drexel Prep defeated its archrival St. Mary’s Academy, 43-42, for the select Division III championship in Alexandria.

Stars galore

New Orleans Catholic schools have enjoyed their share of highly talented women. One who stands on the same pedestal as Johnson is Archbishop Chapelle point guard Olivia “Turtle” Grayson.

Like Johnson, Grayson was named the Most Outstanding Player in the 2009 Class 5A championship rout of Lafayette (47-25), and was subsequently named the  Clarion Herald Elite team’s Outstanding Player. She went on to a splendid career at Tulane University.

Eight other women rose above the rest over the last 25 years.

No one knows how many points Jenna Deemer scored during her career. She started as a sixth grader at St. Mary’s Academy before transferring to Ursuline as a freshman. But the LSU signee was truly proficient in finding the hoop.

Kristen Nuss, today a professional beach volleyball player, led Mount Carmel to two state titles.

Standing 6-foot-4, Dominican’s Stephanie Helgeson, De La Salle’s Crystal Marks and Xavier Prep’s Kailyn Williams all dominated in the middle.

And, undoubtedly, the three best forwards were Ursuline’s Kourtney Weber, Cabrini’s Rakell Spencer and De La Salle’s Breana Turner.

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A quarter-century of hardwood stars

Jamie Thomatis         Ursuline                      1998

Julie Perilloux             Pope John Paul II     1999

Cricket Williams        St. Mary’s                    2000

Shanique Harris         Dominican                  2001

Ebony Owens             St. Mary’s                    2001

Ashley Blanche          Cabrini                         2002

Lauren Hill                  De La Salle                  2002

Dani Holland              Cabrini                         2002

Maria Rodriguez        Dominican                 2002

Stasi Bernard                Dominican                2002

Morgan Eastman         Mount Carmel          2003

Erica Casanave            Abp. Hannan            2003

Khalilah Mitchell          St. Mary’s                 2003

Jenni George                Mount Carmel          2003

LaToya Harvey             Cabrini                       2004

Shontrice Blanche       Cabrini                       2005

Reisha Bullock             De La Salle                2005

Danielle Goodly           Cabrini                        2005

Nicole Leonard            Dominican                 2005

Megan Wilderotter      Dominican                 2005

Candice McGee           Cabrini                        2005

Gabby Braggagnini     Dominican                  2006

Caitlin Cleveland         Mount Carmel            2007

Amy Sprout                  Dominican                  2008

Theresa Plaisance      Ursuline                       2008

Brooke Becker             St. Charles Catholic   2009

Lianne McCarthy         Ursuline                       2010

Emani White                 Abp. Chapelle             2010    

Michelle Bordes           Abp. Chapelle             2011

Ashley Lala                   Mount Carmel            2012

Schyler Morton            Ursuline                       2011

Elise Haddon               Dominican                   2012

Cha’von Foxhall          Xavier Prep                  2012

De’Shia Dillon             De La Salle                   2013

Kyla Williams              Cabrini                          2014

Jennifer Clark             Mount Carmel             2014

Taylor Berry                 Mount Carmel             2015

Kyla Jones                   Abp. Chapelle              2015

Gabby Sperber            Dominican                    2016

Kelsey Pinera              Cabrini                           2017

Breanne Woods          Cabrini                           2019

Taylor Berry                 Mount Carmel              2019

Kiersten Nelson          Ursuline                        2020

Tomyree Thompson   St. Mary’s                     2021

Baylie Carroll               Abp. Chapelle              2023

Mya Brown                  St. Charles Catholic   2023