for pg 7 6-1-23
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Hailey Johnson, who last week graduated as Putnam Science Academy’s class salutatorian, was at peace with playing club-level basketball at St. Bonaventure.
Though her dream was to play college basketball, she had come to terms with what was happening. After all, she was going to college for the academics.
When she visited St. Bonaventure in early spring, she really liked the campus (and the financial package they were offering) so she decided that was where she would go, find a major that she liked, and just play basketball for a club team there. In late April, Johnson’s mom put the deposit down. And then…
“Maybe 30 minutes or an hour later, I got an email from the Lasell University women’s basketball coach (Kelley Sundberg),” Johnson said. “Literally, it was right after we put the deposit down at St. Bonaventure. She said she saw some of my film on a website, which I hadn’t been on for a year. All of the recruiting videos on there were from last year. But she reached out and asked me to contact her.
“I called her back right then, we set up a time for me to go visit, and I loved the campus. She was really excited to have me, I was really excited to be there. I pretty much decided when I saw the campus that I was going to play for that team.”
For Johnson, it was a dream falling into place.
“College basketball was something I really wanted to do,” she said. “I was so excited that a coach reached out to me, especially at a school that I really liked. I had applied there because of their Forensics program, which is what I really wanted, too.”
Johnson spent two years at PSA after transferring from nearby Tourtellotte Memorial High School after her sophomore year.
She played on the second team in her first year, then was a reserve player on the Prep team that finished in fourth place at the national tournament this season.
“Coming to PSA, college basketball is the goal,” she said. “I was somewhat content at Tourtellotte, playing and starting, but coming to PSA, I knew I was probably going to be at the bottom of the barrel and was going to have to work my way up. Fortunately, I did that.
“But then I figured going to St. Bonaventure, I thought I was going to be right back where I started, playing for a club team. It’s so exciting to know that a coach saw me in probably my worst basketball year of my life and still wanted me to play for them.”
Lasell is a Division III school located just west of Boston. The Lasers struggled to a 6-19 record this past season, but all but two of the 11 players on the roster were either freshmen or sophomores.
Johnson believes she can jump right in and make a positive impact as one of just a handful of true post players. How this all unfolded for her gives her reason to believe.
“(Sundberg) reaching out was just euphoria almost,” Johnson said. “Then meeting her, she was so much more excited than I thought she was going to be. It’s all just so crazy how it worked out.”
Stephen Nalbandian
Sports Information Director
Putnam Science Academy
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