NEW YORK — When asked her motivation, Mia Pauldo always points to her family and her hometown of Paterson. The only New Jersey resident named to the McDonald's All-American Games this year, the Morris County point guard was determined to "put on a show" for the local fans at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
Morris Catholic's starting point guard for the past four winters, Pauldo had little trouble picking up the same role for the East team on Tuesday night. She had nine points, seven assists and three rebounds.
The only promise Pauldo didn't deliver on was an East win. The West drove to a quick lead and polished off the East, 104-82, in the girls All-American game.
"This means everything to me," said Pauldo, the third McDonald's All-American from Paterson, following Tim Thomas (Paterson Catholic) and Essence Carson (Eastside).
"My Paterson people are coming to support me, because that's where I'm born and raised. Most people think I'm from Denville, New Jersey, because but that's just the high school I go to. My hood is Paterson, New Jersey, and that's where most of my support comes from."
First family of Paterson basketball
Mia's paternal grandmother, Jeannette Wallace, 71, started the family's long history with basketball in Paterson.
After finding no athletic options for girls while at Eastside High School except cheerleading or "band auxiliary," Wallace was determined to make changes.
After graduating from William Paterson with a health and physical education degree, she came home and started coaching midget league boys basketball. Wallace worked with Moe Leftwich, the Youth and Family Services Director for the Paterson YMCA, to launch the first girls basketball program in the city. Wallace proudly recalled how her son and daughter, D.J. Pauldo and Laina Wallace, "sat on my bench watching me coach."
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D.J. and Filisha Latrell Pauldo are raising five kids in Paterson.
The eldest of the next generation, 23-year-old Daizon, also played basketball at Paterson Eastside – and in the family's backyard after D.J. ripped up the garage to put in a court. Mia and Mya are identical twins who turned 19 on Feb. 23, two days after the MCT final. Nyasia is 10 months younger. A senior at Panther Academy who plays for Eastside, she is currently sidelined after tearing her left ACL for the second time during preseason.
