The path to success isn’t always a linear one. There may be detours along the way. But in the end, the journey is what matters.

When she took the nearly 12-hour drive to Pearl River Community College and stepped foot onto Poplarville, Mississippi soil, junior guard Taylor-Johnson Matthews had a vision in mind. Get to a big-time program or conference. It led her to Chicago with a spot on the DePaul Blue Demons.

“Taylor was on a mission. Taylor knew that she had eight months with us,” Pearl River women’s basketball head coach Scotty Fletcher said. “Her work ethic was second to none. She didn’t come to Pearl River to be distracted.”

In her one year at Pearl River Community College, Johnson-Matthews led all scorers in the Mississippi Association of Community Colleges Conference (MACCC) last year with 18.2  points per game. She was named the MACCC Player of the Year, earning a First Team All-MACCC nod, and landed on the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Second Team All-American.

Her individual success propelled the Pearl River Wildcats to a share of the MACCC title, their second in three years, and a berth in the NJCAA Tournament, their first appearance since 2003. This got DePaul women’s head coach Doug Bruno’s attention.

“Taylor is a talented multi-dimensional guard who brings versatility to our backcourt, with the ability to score the ball in multiple ways,” Bruno said. “Taylor provides much-needed game experience to our roster.”

Johnson-Matthews’s roots are deep in athletics. Having grown up in Cleveland, Ohio, her earliest memories are playing recreational basketball at her local YMCA.

“I can’t tell you the first time, but I definitely got some pictures from the YMCA,” Johnson-Matthews recalls.

Johnson-Matthews’s mother, Cyrita Johnson, played Division II basketball at Lakeland Community College from 1990-92. Her father, Thomas Matthews, was an outside linebacker at Ohio State University from 2000-04.

The roots branch outward. Johnson-Matthews’s cousin, Jordan Taylor, played guard at the University of Wisconsin. In his senior year, Taylor became an all-around player for the Badgers and was recognized nationally for his efforts — he earned second-team All-American honors from the AP and was named to the 2011 Big Ten All-Defensive Team. Johnson-Matthews looks up to him the most now.

All of these family members, including Johnson-Matthews, had standout stints, earning awards at various levels at their respective schools. During her senior year (2021-22) at Brush High School in Lyndhurst, Ohio, Johnson-Matthews won the Kaayla Chones Award, which is given to The News-Herald’s girls basketball player of the year. 

Johnson-Matthews herself was surprised about the nomination and win.

“I didn’t even know that was an award,” Johnson-Matthews said. “And then I got nominated for the award, and I could just remember my grandma being so happy that I won it. She was in a restaurant screaming when he said my name.”

Even with all the support and athletic ability, Johnson-Matthews’s first year at Wright State University was filled with mixed emotions, after committing three weeks before the season tipped off. Doubt began creeping into her mind as the season progressed. 

“I got in my head a little bit,” Johnson-Matthews said. “(I) just started to doubt myself, I was playing out of position. That didn’t start my journey to go the JUCO route …

I don’t even know how I got there.”

Upon her arrival at Pearl River Community College, Fletcher handed her the keys to the basketball program — literally.

“The first several weeks, I kept telling her that I left some keys by her locker and asked her if she saw him,” Fletcher said. “She’s like, ‘No Sir, I didn’t see no keys.’ After about six weeks of that, I had to finally tell her, ‘The keys that I left at your locker were for the program. You want them or not?’ And she was like, ‘Oh, those keys. Yeah, I want them.’”

The culture Fletcher and his staff created made Johnson-Matthews’s arrival a seamless fit.

“This is not a cliche, but that’s just what we do,” Fletcher said. “We don’t lie to kids. If you’re serious about basketball, if you’re committed, you’re going to get the discipline, you’re going to get the accountability, you’re going to get the tough love.

The same sentiment could be said for DePaul’s culture —the culture head coach Doug Bruno set 35 years ago in practices, games and camps in the offseason.  Every year, Fletcher would take the trip up north to Naperville, Illinois and work the basketball camps with friend Katie Shields. 

Katie Shields’s father and Bruno were roommates and played together at DePaul for Ray Meyer. 

“It was really neat when DePaul started recruiting Taylor, that I basically reconnected with Coach Bruno,” Fletcher said.

That rekindling only helped the recruiting process for Johnson-Matthews. Bruno was adamant and confident they had a plan for her. 

“Bruno would call me every day, almost at the same time,” Johnson-Matthews said. “It felt like he was very invested.

While Bruno hasn’t been with the team since being placed on medical leave, interim head coach Jill M. Pizzotti has ensured her team is prepared for the season. 

“My focus is on our players and our program and trying to be the best for them,” Pizzotti said. “Every day is different, but I just keep my focus on the girls and what we need from them individually, as a team and as a basketball program.”

Johnson-Matthews’s mission was so successful at Pearl River that it has led her here, to a high-major program hungry for success. She has left her handprints and footprints all over Pearl River’s program and is determined to do the same in Lincoln Park.

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