Johnson, a 5-foot-8 guard from Washington Court House, Ohio, is currently averaging 13.4 points, 4.8 steals, 3.0 assists, and 2.2 rebounds through five games in her senior year in leading Miami Trace High School to a 4-1 overall record. She has helped lead her team to three conference titles and three sectional crowns so far in her career as she is in her fourth season on the varsity team. A two-time All-League First Team selection, Johnson was named to the District 14 Second Team and the Southeast Ohio District Second Team as a junior as well as being an Honorable Mention All-Ohioan as Miami Trace finished ranked fourth in the final Associated Press poll with a 21-3 record. In fact, Miami Trace has gone 63-14 in Johnson’s four years on the team.

"We are very excited that Lauren has chosen to attend MVNU next year,” said MVNU head coach Steve Gregory. "She liked what she saw and decided to end all the looking and make a commitment to MVNU and the basketball program. Lauren is a very talented basketball player. That said, I am even more enamored with her off the floor. What a tremendous person we are getting. She is a very strong Christian who comes from a great family background. She has done an outstanding job in the classroom and is looking at the pre-med track. She will be a tremendous asset not only to our basketball team but to our campus community as well.”

"Lauren has played in a tremendous basketball program over the past four years at Miami Trace,” Gregory added. "She has also played for one of our own alumni, Angie Trainer, who had a great career at MVNU. Angie was her AAU coach this past summer and was responsible for helping us find out more about Lauren in the early stages of the recruiting process. Lauren has played primarily the point guard position and has done a great job of leading her high school team. She is quick, handles the ball very well, shoots if from the perimeter well, and has worked hard in developing her mid-range jumper this year. She is aggressive defensively and will help make us better on both ends of the floor. We are looking forward to the future with Lauren and can’t wait for her to join us here next season. She will have the opportunity to compete for playing time right away at both the point and shooting guard spots.”

In addition to playing basketball at Miami Trace, Johnson has played volleyball and softball and earned Honorable Mention All-Ohio honors in softball. Among her many achievements, she has been inducted into National Honor Society and selected to Who’s Who Among American High School Students. She has also been a part of various choirs and is a member of FCCLA as well as serving as a peer mediator in addition to being an honor roll student.

"There were several colleges and universities that had some of the aspects that I was looking for, but MVNU was the best fit and seemed to meet all my needs,” said Johnson. "It was the closest to being like my own background, and the spiritual aspect was missing at other places I visited and that was very important to me. I really like the team and the way that they accepted me when I came to visit. I also want to continue to be a positive leader when I get there the way that I have been able to be in high school. I am excited to be a Lady Cougar.”

The Lady Cougars, who are an NAIA Division II school, are currently 5-7 overall. MVNU will return to action on Saturday when the team will travel to Carlow (Pa.) University for a non-conference game that will tip off at 2:00 p.m.