East Allegheny’s Amani Johnson named Trib HSSN Girls Athlete of the Year

By: HSSN Staff
Saturday, July 7, 2018 | 12:36 PM

What can she not do?

That’s a good question to ask when looking back at Amani Johnson’s career at East Allegheny and, specifically, her standout senior season in 2017-18.

In this day and age of specialization, it is not easy for high school athletes to excel in more than one sport. Those who played and thrived in each of the three sports seasons during a scholastic school year are even more rare.

Well, how about starting in five varsity sports over your entire high school career?

No matter what time of year, Amani Johnson of East Allegheny could do it all. Thus, she has been named the 2017-18 TribLive High School Sports Network Girls Athlete of the Year.

“She has such grace and confidence when doing her thing,” East Allegheny basketball coach Mike Osiecki said. “I’d pay to see her play.”

During her high school career, you’d go broke paying to watch her play all the sports she participated in.

In the fall, Johnson started for both the Wildcats’ soccer and volleyball teams. Last fall, Johnson scored 31 goals to finish with 77 for her career, an East Allegheny school record.

She starred in the winter for the East Allegheny basketball team where she really made a name for herself. The 5-foot-6 guard averaged nearly 29 points, along with six assists, four rebounds and three steals per game.

Johnson finished her career at East Allegheny with 2,345 points, the 16th most in WPIAL history.

The Wildcats reached the WPIAL finals for the second time in program history and made it to the PIAA semifinals. Both postseasons ended at the hands of Bishop Canevin as East Allegheny finished 27-2.

There was a new addition to her impressive resume this past spring. After playing shortstop for the softball team her first three years at East Allegheny, this year she switched to track.

Starting in the fall, Johnson will turn in her soccer ball, volleyball, softball and track shoes to focus only on basketball, as she begins her college career at Kennesaw State.

“People who have never seen her probably think she is 6-foot tall,” Osiecki said. “She was such a smart, crafty and diverse player. Many of her 2,300 points were putting the ball on the floor and going to the hoop.”

It is the end of a very special and busy journey for a giant on the court, pitch, track and diamond.

Coach Osiecki sums up this chapter of the Amani Johnson story best.

“She is just an amazing athlete and a wonderful person.”

Johnson took some time for a Q&A:

As a five-sport athlete in your high school career, did you ever feel burned out with the non-stop challenges?

Yes, a lot of times I did feel burned out, especially throwing school work and a social life on top of all those sports, but I loved them anyways. Plus, I think playing so many different sports helped me to not get burned out at one.

With how much time you have to put into practice yet alone the games, how did you manage to play both soccer and volleyball every fall?

The fall was always the hardest time of year for me because I was busy 24/7. It was very tiring. A lot of time management and even more help/understanding from my coaches. They allowed me to split time between practices, and my volleyball coaches always understood that soccer games came before volleyball games on days there was conflict.

You played softball your first three years, then ran track this past spring. What prompted that change?

I love softball, and it was a really hard decision because I liked the team coaches, too. A lot of times, though, we didn’t even have enough girls, and we had to ask random people from school if they’d come stand in right field just so we could play the game. I knew I’d get more out of track, especially this season, because I needed to get in shape for college basketball and doing track would help me train hard and get in shape under actual instruction instead of just on my own.

You will play basketball in college. Do you think you would be even better if you would have specialized just in basketball?

Yes, I think if I would’ve played only basketball the last few years I would be better, but I don’t regret a thing. Playing all the sports is a part of who I am. All my other sports kept me in great shape, helped prevent overuse injuries, kept me from burning out, and I think made me a smarter player.

Why Kennesaw State for basketball?

I choose Kennesaw State because I loved the school and coaches. Their vision to change around the program was really exciting to me, also. It kind of reminded me of my high school. I’m super excited to be a part of changing the culture of women’s basketball at KSU.

How special was it to see the growth of the East Allegheny basketball program in your four years there, capped by a trip to the WPIAL finals and the PIAA semifinals this year?

Changing EA basketball is so special to me because not only did it change our program, it changed our whole district and community. It means so much to me to be able to do what we did and leave that impact on our whole school. It also meant a lot basketball-wise, too, because we worked so hard and set goals to meet and we met all of them.

Will it be strange in the fall and the spring not playing all those other sports?

Yes it will be weird not playing soccer, especially because that was always my second sport. I’m ready to put my full attention on basketball though and be the best I can be.

Where do you see yourself in four years? What do you see yourself doing in 10 years?

In four years, I hope to have a degree from KSU and there be a banner in the gym from at least one of the years I played. In 10 years, I don’t know. Hopefully, I’m rich, ha, ha. If I was, I would give some money back to EA and build a gym or something there maybe.

Pick three foods you know are bad for you, but you can’t avoid them and have been known to even sneak them in a moment of weakness?

Ice cream. Ice cream. Ice cream. No, I’m just kidding. Ice cream is definitely one, but I also eat chocolate chip cookie dough even though I shouldn’t. Other than that, I don’t know. I’m not a big snacker really, and I don’t eat that bad.

Don Rebel is a TribLIVE High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.

Tags: East Allegheny