Hard work pays off for Glacier Peak sophomore

You cannot be involved with local girl’s high school basketball and not know of the young phe-nom, Paisley Johnson. The sophomore from Glacier Peak is one of those ‘Special’ athletes who show what hard work can do, even at such a young age.

Paisley Johnson received an offer and verbally accepted a full-ride scholarship to Brigham Young University (BYU).

Paisley’s club basketball coach, Dan Oda, announced the details Monday in a statement to the Snohomish Times Newspaper.

“Paisley is a great athlete who is proving and developing into a great basketball player,” Oda said. “She has had a great Spring/Summer season and the BYU coaches thought a lot of her. Hence, she is accepting a full ride scholarship offer” he said.

Paisley’s father, Brent Johnson, was quick to say that it was all her! “We had nothing to do with promoting Paisley to the BYU coaches,” Brent said. “It was her abilities that caught the attention of the coaches not our pushing for a look,” he said.

Stephanie Johnson, Paisleys mother, helped to keep the sequence of events correct during our phone interview on Tuesday with the family. Everyone was eager to share what he or she experienced over the summer and early fall preceding BYU’s offer.

Paisley explained it all started during the BYU youth camp in June. “We played in a tournament where college coaches were in attendance. I must’ve made a good impression because the word got back to us that BYU coaches were impressed with my play,” Paisley said.

In fact, Paisley received an invite to return a week later for an elite camp where BYU could evaluate her skills individually.

BYU Assistant Women's Basketball Coach Ray Stewart contacted Oda, who coaches AAU Northside Swarm, telling him Paisley had performed extremely well at the recent camps. The BYU coaches asked for the Northside Swarm’s upcoming college viewing tournament schedule so they could follow her through the West Coast circuit in July.

In August, Paisley was among several elite players from across the country invited to scrimmage with the UW women’s basketball team at the Chris Hansen Elite Check Me Out Showcase. Coaches were able to view athletes’ interacting with college players as a team member and evaluate their skills. The event took place at the Hec Edmundson Pavilion.

Then in September, Paisley’s AAU team competed in the MSNM’ at Jackson High School. BYU Assistant Women's Basketball Coach Melinda Bendall attended the event, continuing BYU’s evaluation.

Shortly thereafter Oda was contacted again by BYU coaching staff, who let him know they were interested in talking with Paisley.

On Oct. 6, Paisley contacted BYU Women's Basketball Head Coach Jeff Judkins and during the conversation Judkins made the offer of a full-ride scholarship. He proceeded to explain what was involved and she need not answer right away. Paisley then contacted Coach Oda with many questions about the process and what to expect.

The next morning Oda called the coaching staff at BYU for answers to Paisleys questions.

That afternoon the Johnson family sat down with Oda to go over the conversation he had with the BYU coaching staff. Paisley was very excited about what they discussed and called BYU Assistant Women's Basketball Coach Ray Stewart. After speaking with each coach from the BYU coaching staff, Coach Stewart encouraged her to contact Head Coach Judkins.

Most of us would have immediately called, but not Paisley. She did not want to be late for volleyball practice at Glacier Peak, so she waited and called Judkins from the car.

“I was a bit nervous,” Paisley said. “I told Coach Judkins that I accept BYU’s offer of a full-ride scholarship to play basketball for the Cougars,” she said.

Paisley went on to tell us about the excitement she feels but also the pressure to do well.

“I can’t believe it! I didn’t think this would happen so soon,’ Paisley said. “Everybody is so happy for me,” she said.

Oda told us Paisley is a tremendous athlete and his first player to receive a Division 1 scholarship. “Paisley has played basketball with us for 4 years and the first to get an offer but I see several others that also show great potential to play post high school ball too,” Oda said. “I am so proud of what she has accomplished,” he said.

Paisley’s parents, Brent and Stephanie, they told us Paisley continues to exceed their expectations and they are excited for her future.

Glacier Peak Girls Basketball Head Coach Brian Hill is also excited for Paisley. “I was very happy to get the news of BYU’s offer,” Hill said. “Our team was loaded last year so many people probably haven’t really heard her name very much, but they will. I expect she will get quite a bit more playing time this year,” he said. “Paisley is a team player and knows the game; she is fast and very athletic. We are happy she is on our side,” Hill said.

You can watch Paisley and the rest of the Glacier Peak Grizzlies live on STSPN.com coming up this winter. Select home games from Archbishop Murphy, Glacier Peak, Jackson and Snohomish will be broadcast live starting Nov. 29.