Last home game for Johnson

The lights literally went out on an era of Petaluma High Girl girls basketball Friday night.

While players and fans were still on the court celebrating Petaluma's 64-23 win over Elsie Allen, but much more importantly, Doug Johnson's final home game after 36 years of coaching and teaching the T-Girls, the lights in the gym suddenly went dark. Power was quickly restored, but the symbolism could not be missed.

It was an emotional night for Johnson, his family and T-Girls past and present as they honored a coach that had been largely responsible for not only elevating the Petaluma program, but girls basketball throughout the North Bay into a major sport.

"I can't explain how I feel," said Johnson. "It is absolutely phenomenal. I couldn't ask for a better way to go out. I never realized how much support I had."

Johnson has an overall record of 666-329 with still one game left on this season's schedule, plus the Sonoma County League Tournament and possibly a North Coast Section invitation still to come. This year's team is 15-10 with an 8-3 record, and Johnson said he has enjoyed coaching the current group as much as he has any of his other, including championship, teams.

"They say you should go out on top. These kids have allowed me to go out on top and I appreciate them greatly," he said before the game.

Being the last regular-season home game of the season, it was also Senior Night and the T-Girls and their fans also saluted seniors Lisa Guptill and Sophia Bihn.

Both noted that, while it was tough leaving the T-Girls, they would take lessons learned from Johnson with them.

"I learned a lot from Coach Johnson outside of basketball," explained Guptill.

"What we learned we can take with us and use that knowledge the rest of our lives," added Bihn.

Johnson, who normally watches the court action with the intensity of a hawk, relaxed courtside in a rocking chair and spent the second half in the stands, sitting next to his wife and visiting with friends.

The coach could well afford to relax. Out on the court, the T-Girls were dominating every aspect of the Sonoma County League game. Petaluma is flat out a much better team than El Molino, and on Friday night, after a slow start, they were at the top of their physical and emotional game.

"We were a little amped up at the start," Johnson noted. Still, the T-Girls led at the end of the quart5er, 11-5, and could have had a much greater advantage had they not missed five charity chances. After that, the T-Girls took charge, scoring the first 16 points of the second period and running into the locker room at halftime with a 30-8 advantage.

With assistant coach Janelle Lombardi directing traffic, shuttling players in and out, in the second half, while Johnson chatted in the stands, the T-Girls kept up the intensity, passing crisply, running at every opportunity and playing tenacious defense.

Joelle Krist, showing no ill effects of the concussion that had sidelined her for four games, drove almost with impunity throughout the second half, finishing with 17 points. She had all sorts of scoring support. Emily Corda counted four, Jenna Teagarden tallied four, Cassie Baddeley hit a free throw, Olivia Baldwin bucketed seven, Bihn added five, Guptill scored five, Maddie Mehciz scored 10, Emily Cheda chipped in two and Allison Scranton worked inside for nine.

Petaluma concludes its regular season Wednesday night at Elsie Allen.

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