Oceana Johnson
From Hoopedia
Oceana Johnson (born May, 1997 in Northern Kentucky) is a basketball player in Eugene, Oregon playing in the Kidsports Girls Basketball League. A complete player, skilled in every facet of the game, can play every position on the floor, and often does, an intuitive, gritty, tireless defender with exceptional speed and quickness. Oceana is known for her ability to create turnovers on the defensive end and convert them into points on the other end. Uncanny ability to steal the ball and create opportunities in transition with her exceptional speed, most of the time able to outrun anyone on the floor end to end while handling the ball.
Career
Began playing organized basketball at age 5 for the Adams Elementary Shooting Stars, averaging 8 pts, 6 steals, and 2 rebounds per game, helping the team to a 5-1 regular season first place finish.
Her second season with Adams Elementary, coached by her father Keith, was similar to the first. Averaging 7 pts, 8 steals, 3 rebounds, 2 assists and 1 block per game, again finishing 5-1 in first place during the regular season.
Her final season with the Adams Elementary team saw a jump in her per game averages to 12 points, 6 rebounds, 9 steals, 2 assists and 2 blocks per game, while posting season and career highs in points (18), rebounds (10), steals (15), assists (5) and blocks (4). She also achieved her first triple-double with 18 pts, 10 rebounds and 12 steals in a game, and started to be recognized not only as an offensive spark, but also as a shut down defender in the post or perimeter. The team posted a perfect record going 4-0 during the regular season and 3-2 in the extended season, finishing in a tie for first place.
With a new team and a new coach (for the first time not formally coached by her father), Oceana began a new chapter in her basketball career playing her first season for the Gilham Elementary Tigers. Getting off to a slow start, posting only 3 points, 4 rebounds, 4 steals, 0 assists and 0 blocks playing limited minutes, the team managed a 16-16 tie. Her season took a turn in the second game posting 10 points, 8 rebounds, 10 steals and 2 assists, while once again establishing herself as a dominant defensive presence, leading the team to their first win of the season. Then going 5-1 over the next six games with Oceana averaging 11 points, 5 rebounds, 9 steals, 3 assists and 1.5 blocks, the team finished 6-1-1 entering the post season tournament in first place. In her first post season tournament Oceana averaged an impressive 11 points, 9 rebounds, 12 steals, 4 assists and 2 blocks per game posting tournament highs of 16 points, 5 assists, 3 blocks and 14 steals, plus a new career high 13 rebounds, although her team would lose the championship game in a disappointing lopsided contest.
Oceana continued to play for the Gilham team this year, although with a new coach, but also began her first year playing a grade up for Bertha Holt Elementary, under Coach King. Although struggling to post impressive stats playing for Holt (4.4 pts, 3.2 reb, 1 ast, 3.5 stl, 0.2 blk), and despite her first losing season of her career (5-6), she would gain valuable knowledge of the game playing with players who were older and more experienced than she was, which would end up helping her improve as a complete player, as well as to continue to excel on the Gilham team, where she would post her best season averages to this point in her career. Although despite averaging 11.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 7.5 steals and 3.3 assists, while posting her 14th and 15th career double-doubles, second career triple-double (10 points, 12 rebounds, 14 steals), and tying her career high 18 points, the Gilham team struggled to a 1-3 start. Regrouping at the halfway point, and playing a more team oriented game, Gilham would go 3-1 over the final four games to finish the regular season 4-4 and in second place, with Oceana averaging 12.5 points, 7.5 rebounds, 10.5 steals and 2 assists over this stretch, also posting her third career triple-double with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 steals. With momentum going into the postseason tournament, Gilham won thier first game 20-14 in a back and forth contest with Oceana scoring 12, pulling down 8 boards and getting 14 steals, while dishing out 2 dimes. Gilham then entered the Championship Game as an underdog, but prevailed with a convincing 24-11 rout with Oceana again leading the way with 16 points, a career high 16 steals, 9 rebounds and 2 assists. Overall she would finish the season averaging 12.7 points, 8.1 rebounds, 11 steals and 2.4 assists per game, although not measured statistically, but arguably most impressive, would be her defensive awareness and intensity, which played a most important role in holding teams to a measley 12 points a game average over the last 6 games, going 5-1 over that stretch, en route to her first Tournament Championship.
Returning to play for the Gilham team for the third season (once again with a new coaching staff), and also returning to Holt for the second time, Oceana got off to a quick start. Playing for the Holt team under Coach King once again, She earned a starting role in the backcourt as the 2 Guard alongside talented ballhandler Megan, and now comfortable with the increased competition, Oceana finished the season as the second leading scorer (6.8 PPG), led the team in steals (6.5 per game), and was the third leading rebounder with 5.5 per contest to help Holt to a 7-3 first place regular season finish. Although the postseason wouldn't be so kind to them taking an early exit from the tournament with two straight losses, Oceana again gained valuable knowledge and proved she could compete with more experienced competition. As the season with Gilham began, Oceana had two goals she hoped to accomplish this season. Score 20 points (breaking her career high of 18) and win a second straight tournament championship. She would start out strong, with her fourth career triple-double, putting up 18 points, 14 rebounds, 16 steals and 5 assists in a 37-10 rout to earn their first win of the season. The team would lose the next two games by 18 and 22 points respectively, with Oceana out due to illness. She would return to score 14 points and hit the game winning shot with 10 sec remaining, as Gilham prevailed 23-22 in a classic for their second win of the season. Then at .500 on the year, they would go on a three game win streak. First in a 33-12 rout, with Oceana scoring 18, a career high 16 rebounds, 14 steals and 4 assists (Her fifth career triple-double). Next in a 33-22 win with Oceana scoring 16, 10 rebounds, 12 steals and 2 assists, for her sixth career triple-double. Then in a 48-15 blowout where Oceana would again score 18, an astounding (career high) 18 steals, plus 14 rebounds and 5 assists to post her third straight and seventh career triple-double, as well as delivering a dominating defensive effort. (She would sit out the entire fourth quarter due to the coaches wishing to show mercy on the other team, although Oceana pleaded with them to let her back in to score just two more points (she would have had 20). They would then run up against their league rivals and go down in a 42-32 demoralizer. Although Oceana would individually post nice numbers once again with 16 points, 8 rebounds, 10 steals and 3 assists, as a team they ended up short. They would end the regular season with Oceana missing her third game of the year due to illness, and go down in an uninspired 25-14 loss, to finish 5-4 on the year. Returning from her illness to play in the Postseason Klassic Tournament, Oceana delivered an inspired performance. Scoring 15 points, with 15 rebounds, 15 steals and 5 dimes, She led her team into the Championship Game with a 41-27 dousing in a game that was never close, again sitting out the entire fourth quarter with the coaches excercising the mercy rule.
On March 9, 2008 Gilham would face their league rivals in a rematch for the Tournament Championship. It would prove to be an instant classic. Going down 10-0 to start the game, Gilham would look to their leader. Delivering arguably the best first half performance in league history, Oceana would lead her team on a 11-0 run to put Gilham up by one at the end of the first quarter. Riding her momentum to start the second quarter, while executing a one man full court press (1-3-1), Oceana would collect 6 consecutive steals, scoring 8 consecutive points as the opposing team desparately attempted to inbound the ball. She had forced them into a timout, as she had helped Gilham regain the lead at 20-18. But Oceana was about to do something even more spectacular. With 20 seconds to play in the first half, Oceana lost her defender on the perimeter, (her teammate) Sunday hit her with a hard pass as she put the ball on the floor and started to drive, the defense reacted, collapsing to the basket as they expected her to penetrate, but then she did something no one expected, planting behind the 3 point arc, the players and spectators literally froze, all eyes gazing as she pulled up, releasing a shot that seemed to float in slow motion for an eternity as the first 3 point shot in team history slowly floated toward the hoop, homing in on its target as it went dead through the center of the net, avoiding the rim, as it swished, and played sweet string music to raise the masses of spectators from their seats, some leaping in the air, waving their arms in excitement and disbelief as they shared in the amazement of this historical feat. Cheering and yelling the crowd went crazy. The first half buzzer sounded. Everyone was beside themselves in awe of what had just happened. "That was awesome!" someone said,"Did you SEE that!" another exclaimed."She's Amazing" someone else commented. Players and coaches from both teams were a buzz about the shot. One Official said "Wow, I've never seen a 3 pointer in this league before." "Neither have I" the other official stated. Not only had she just made the first three point field goal in team history, possibly league history, she dropped 17 points, had 12 steals, 11 rebounds and 1 assist. A triple-double in the FIRST HALF! She also boasted an impressive 8 for 12 (75%) from the field. (Notably, this was the first 3 point shot she had ever attempted in competition, she had practiced the shot for hours, perfecting her shooting form, coaching herself on adjustments she needed to make, shooting a respectable 50% in practice, but she had never attempted the shot in competition up to this point.) Gilham would fall behind in the second half with Oceana picking up her fourth foul early in the 3rd quarter and sitting out until midway thru the fourth as her team fell behind by 17 in her absence, with their opponents going on a 12-0 and 11-2 run before Oceana would return to score 4 more and set her new career high at 21 in a disappointing loss. Although Gilham wasn't able to pull out the victory, the people who witnessed the game won't soon forget Oceana's brilliant first half performance. "They were a good team" She said afterwards "I couldn't do it all by myself, I tried my best". When asked about the three pointer she replied "I was surprised when I made the shot, I planned on trying a three pointer today, but I wanted to wait for the right time". "I told Sunday to pass me the ball if I got open up top, and the defense gave me the shot". "I was so surprised, but happy when it went in". "Everyone I saw was congratulating me, it was nice".
