There are 16 teams in the Division IV district tournament, and the Jaguars are seeded fourth and will open Feb. 21 at home against 13th-seeded Granville Christian. The winner meets third-seeded Madison Christian or sixth-seeded Mount Gilead on Feb. 24 in a second-round game at the home of the better seed. 

There is only one district champion in Division IV, with No. 1 Newark Catholic and No. 2 Fisher Catholic the only other high-seeded teams than the Jaguars. 

“The last time Wellington has made some noise was 2018, so it’s been some years,” Johnson said. “It’s just been a culture change. When I came over here, I took the same type of mentality that I had at Independence. The one thing I learned from that experience (of being at Independence) is that you’ve got to change the culture. The one thing you’re looking at now is just the locker room, just the hallway with all of their pictures hanging up, and they have a sense of pride. Once they realized I was all in, the biggest change has been the mentality and letting them know we’re going to put in the work and have workouts in the offseason.” 

Wellington has five seniors in Gigi Manley and Samika Varma, who both average four points, as well as Erin Conselyea, Rowyn Hubbard and Eve O’Sullivan. 

Sophomore Jeanie DeSantis and freshman Dea Singh are averaging five points, and freshman Natalie Moore also has been a key contributor. 

Wellington had won seven in a row before falling 42-28 to Grandview on Jan. 31 in a non-league game in which it trailed 14-3 before getting back to as close as three. 

“It’s just like a rivalry (against Grandview) because we’re close in proximity,” Johnson said. “Grandview had had our number the past couple years. We’re here now, so we don’t back down. This is our time. We had a slow start in that game, but I was proud of the mentality switch where in past years if we’d gotten off to a slow start, we were going down. They fought back and cut it down to three in the fourth quarter and that kind of changed the tide. They never quit.”