St. Michael-Albertville guard Tessa Johnson reigns as Miss Basketball

St. Michael-Albertville senior guard Tessa Johnson never sought the spotlight. It found her.

That light shone on Johnson one more time as a high schooler Saturday afternoon, when she was announced as Miss Basketball for the 2022-23 season.

The award for Johnson was revealed during the Minnesota Girls Basketball Coaches Association's all-star series at Holy Angels High School. The other finalists for the award that goes to the state's outstanding senior girls basketball player were Nunu Agara and Taylor Woodson of Hopkins, Grace Counts of Providence Academy and Kennedy Sanders of Chaska.

Johnson also is the Star Tribune's Metro Player of the Year, an honor bestowed in March.

"She had a lot of accolades this past season, but never once did she want the limelight on her," Knights coach Kent Hamre said. "She would always deflect to her teammates. She cares about her teammates."

That was never more evident than after Johnson directed the Knights to the first state championship in program history with a 71-70 victory over defending champion Hopkins in the Class 4A final. Johnson was selected to the all-tournament team but gave her plaque to classmate Piper Carlson, the team's starting center.

"Tessa giving her all-tournament plaque to Piper was just one of many indications of how much she appreciates her teammates and everyone around her," Hamre said. "She is a selfless player and person."

Johnson, who has signed with South Carolina for college, averaged 23.3 points, 5.8 rebounds, 6.4 assists and 3.0 steals per game in her final season, and she was selected to play in the McDonald's All-America Game. She wound up with 2,289 points in high school.

"Tessa is one of the most driven kids," Hamre said. "She is a player that is never satisfied. She wants to always get better and knows what it takes to get better."

Johnson was sidelined her sophomore season because of a broken left femur.

"Even when she was out with her broken leg she was always trying to get better," Hamre said. "She forced me to become a better coach because she was always challenging me."

Johnson helped the Knights to a state tournament runner-up finish the next season, but that wasn't good enough. She was determined to leave as a champion and wanted to defeat perennial power Hopkins in the process.

"After we had completed our section championship game, that Hopkins game was still going on. It was going to overtime," Hamre said, referring to Hopkins' section final victory over Wayzata. "She was cheering for Hopkins because she did not want her career to end without having one final crack at Hopkins. ... To beat the best makes it a complete championship."