Hauser’s Gabby Johns, left, and Batesville’s Alyson Peters go for a rebound during a basketball game at Hauser Jr./Sr. High School in Hope, Ind., Friday, Nov. 5, 2021.
The Republic file photo
HOPE — Dennis Rodman wasn’t the tallest player on the basketball court, but he became the NBA’s most dominant rebounder of the 1990s by being in the right position, boxing out and diving after errant shots that found the floor.
Hauser girls basketball coach Chad Evans talked to Gabby Johns about playing that role for the Jets, and Johns took it to heart. Late in the regular season, the 5-foot-9 senior forward set the school’s single-season rebounding record.
“I’ve been talking with the coaches about it for a few years, and they’ve always told me that they want me to be like Dennis Rodman and get all those junkyard rebounds,” Johns said. “My dad (Chris Johns) loves calling me a junkyard dog because he’s always wanted me to play like that, and at the beginning of the season my dad and I had a conversation about some goals for this year, and we talked about that being my No. 1 goal this year, so I just went out there and did my best.”
Johns will help lead Hauser into tonight’s first-round sectional game against Class A No. 5 Jac-Cen-Del at Waldron. She finished the regular season with 190 rebounds (8.6 per game), breaking the record of 167 set by Taylor Henderson, who was a senior when Johns was a freshman.
“That was one of her goals for this year, and that’s a pretty high goal, and she got it,” Evans said. “She just does a good job getting in position for defense. Rebounding is just an effort thing. She just wants the ball more. She really made an effort last year of getting in the weight room and getting stronger. That was a big part of it. She works hard at it, and she deserves it.”
As the lone senior on the Jets team, Johns has been a leader both on and off the court.
“She’s been a great leader, a good kid to look up to,” Evans said. “She’s been a vocal leader in practice. Plus, she’s very involved in the school and a great student-athlete.”
A three-sport athlete, Johns also has been her class president all four years, was student council president last year and is involved in FFA and National Honor Society. She has played tennis since her freshman year and started playing volleyball as a junior.
But basketball has been her primary sport.
“It’s always been basketball,” Johns said. “I picked up volleyball last year because I thought it would be really fun to do, and it was. Basketball has always been a dream of mine. I always knew I’d play Hauser women’s basketball when I got to high school, and it just kind of carried on and became part of my personality.”
Johns would like to be able to continue her basketball career at the college level. But she also wants to major in agricultural communications and realizes she may have to go to a bigger school that has that field instead of a smaller one where she could play.
“I’m really looking someplace to play, but I’ve thought about Purdue. The University of Tennessee also has a good ag program. I’ve talked to a few smaller schools. I’m open to really anything, but my biggest dream would be IU. The day before I turned 13, when we went to an IU game, and I saw Tyra Buss play, that atmosphere was great.”
Johns is averaging 6.5 points, fourth on the team to sophomore Madelyn Poe (16.8) and juniors Kyliegh Parrott (9.8) and Adrianna Muisillami (7.1). The Jets are 10-12, but have dropped a couple of close games and a couple others when Poe and Parrott were out with illness.
They’ll need to be at their best tonight when they take on a Jac-Cen-Del team that pulled away late to beat Hauser 65-40 on Dec. 1.
“We’ve started jelling more as a team,” Johns said. “We just need to look to play as a team. That’s our big goal this year, to win sectional. Jac-Cen-Del, we had a pretty good game with them in the regular season. We’re having a lot of fun out there, and that’s really all that matters — playing with each other, having fun and playing as a unit.”
