To say the Mount Paran Eagles have a lack of senior leadership would be an understatement, because they don’t have any seniors on the team.
“We have one junior and the rest are sophomores and freshman,” Eagles coach Stephanie Dunn said. “So, for us to compete the way we have, I’m extremely proud of them. We had five seniors last year, and four of them played a lot of minutes, so there wasn’t time for the younger players to gain experience.”
The lone junior, Ciara Alexander, has paired with sophomore Jessica Fields to lead the Eagles to a 15-1 record, good for a No. 1 ranking. They’re also 8-0 in Region 6 after beating No. 10 KIPP 58-51 on Saturday.
The Eagles host North Cobb Christian (7-8, 6-2) Tuesday.
Fields, a 6-foot-1 guard-forward, emerged as one of the state’s top freshmen last season, when the Eagles won their first state championship in program history. She’s averaging 15.8 points, 10.7 rebounds, 2.6 steals and 2.1 blocks this season. Alexander, who transferred in from Holy Innocents’, is averaging 15.4 points, 9.5 rebounds and 1.5 steals.
The two are adequately filling the void left by the graduation of Kaylynn Kirklen and Dunn’s daughter, Kara Dunn, the 2022 1A Private player of the year who is now earning significant playing time as a freshman at Georgia Tech.
It’s not just Fields and Alexander, however. The Eagles’ starting point guard, sophomore Jacalyn Myrthil, averages 8.5 points, 2.4 assists and 1.5 steals while often defending the opponent’s best guard. Another sophomore, Kitali Youmans, contributes across the board with 4.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, three assists and 2.3 steals.
The Eagles have already proven they can compete with anyone in the state. In November, they beat No. 2 Josey 48-40 for its only loss, and 4A’s No. 5 Hardaway 50-32. Last month, they beat 6A’s No. 4 Woodward Academy. In the Deep South Classic at Brookwood, they beat 6A’s No. 2 Forest Park 72-44, 7A’s Collins Hill 65-55, and nearly beat host Brookwood, ranked No. 1 in 7A. The Broncos won 56-54 to hand the Eagles their only loss.
“We had a chance but we missed two key layups,” Dunn said. “It was an awesome experience, though. We entered that tournament with the hope of playing good competition, and having the opportunity to play Brookwood in the championship.”
The Eagles have one more non-region game against 7A’s Carrollton (9-5) on Jan. 14 as part of the J-4 Sports MLK Holiday Basketball Invitational at Chapel Hill. Tip-off is 5:30 p.m.
The Eagles’ other eight regular season games are 6-2A opponents, closing with a rematch on the road against KIPP on Feb. 7. Then, it’s on to the region and state tournaments, both of which they won last season.
Dunn has back-to-back state titles on her resume from St. Pius, where she won 4A in 2004, 2006 and 2007. Aside from having no seniors, there’s another key difference in the Eagles’ title defense — they’re in a new classification, against new competition.
“I loved the fact that our senior group had a chance to win 1A Private,” Dunn said. “We’d been in battles with those teams for 3-4 years, and it was great competition. It was special for them to be the team that finished (the now-defunct 1A Private) on top.
“For this group, this is their era. It’s their new classification. This is going to be them making their mark, building their legacy in Class 2A. So, I think (competing in the new 2A) will mean the same to them as 1A Private meant to last year’s seniors.”
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