Lady Griz & Griz hoops programs net blue chip couple

In what appears to be a first for Montana Basketball, a nifty scoring assist by Lady Griz coach Robin Selvig and Grizzly coach Wayne Tinkle has netted a pair of blue chip juco transfers for the two programs in 2008.

Tacoma, Washington natives – Shaunte Nance-Johnson and Anthony Johnson –  a married couple, made the joint commitment to Montana’s hoops programs primarily because the Montana coaches worked as a team to ensure the couple could attend school and play baketball at Montana.

There’s an excellent story on Nance-Johnson in the May 2 Missoulian by Missoulian sportswriter, Bill Speltz. Selvig expects Nance-Johnson to compete for the backup point guard role vacated by the graduated Laura Cote.

In Anthony Johnson, the Montana Griz will welcome far and away the outstanding player in the Northwest Athletic Association of Junior Colleges (NWAACC) for 2007-08.

Johnson, the leading scorer in the league, was named both regular season and and tourney MVP. Johnson’s two free throws with 35 seconds remaining in the championship (he shot 89 percent from the stripe on the season) gave his Yakima Valley CC squad a 66-65 lead over Spokane that held up for the tourney title. Johnson scored 29 points in the win.

Johnson, a 6-3 slasher (both at point and off-guard), averaged just under 25 points per game during league play and scored 25, 33, 38 and 29 points in the four-game conference post-season tourney.

You can read an excellent championship-game story by Yakima Herald-Republic sportswriter Roger Underwood here. 

And, there’s a nice feature here on Johnson which appears in the sports section of the Yakima Valley Community College website.