'We knew this was coming.' Twin freshmen girls basketball players putting NJ on notice

Mia and Mya Pauldo believe in speaking their dreams into existence.

For the Morris Catholic freshman twin guards, it's not if they make it into the WNBA, it's when they do.

In their minds, they had their fingerprints on the glass Morris County championship trophy long before they combined for 31 points to lift the Crusaders to a 63-35 win over Morristown in the title game on Feb. 25.

Before they reached high school, the Paterson natives had already inched toward their goal of playing professionally, securing more than a dozen major college offers, including from Baylor, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Rutgers, Seton Hall and Virginia Tech.

"It’s amazing," Mia Pauldo said. "We weren’t really shocked about it because we knew this was coming, but we didn’t think it was coming this soon. We’re just continuing to get better and push each other every day."

Now the Pauldo twins, affectionately known as "TBC" or the "Twin BackCourt," have their sights set on lifting the Morris Catholic program to national prominence and to its first state title since 2006.

With the dazzling display that the duo have put on this season — Mia is averaging 21.6 points, 8 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game, while Mya supplies 16.5 points, 4.8 rebounds and 4.9 assists per game — there is no discounting they can make that dream a reality.

"For us, it’s phenomenal. For other teams, it’s a disaster," Morris Catholic coach Billy Lovett said. "Someone will try to take one point guard out of the play, but they can’t take both of them out of the play. They can’t take both out of the mix of what we’re trying to do.

"When one doesn’t have the ball, the other one has the ball and they’re equally as good in doing the things they need to do to be creative, get their own shots whenever they want and make their teammates better."

Rooted in basketball

The oohs and aahs have reached high school gyms.

Mia strides into the lane, cuts left, stops on a dime, goes behind her back and knocks down a fadeaway jumper. Mya leads the ball up the court with the same confidence, gesticulating to her Crusaders teammates, making a pass and then getting it back for a 3-pointer two feet beyond the line.

The twins have made opponents see double all season long.

"Mya does a great job being a floor general, leading from the court, knowing the game and knowing how to set her teammates up," said Morris Catholic assistant coach Aliyah Huland El, who is Morris County's all-time leading scorer with 2,286 points at Randolph between 2014 and 2018. "Mia does the same thing and has a little bit more pizazz to her game.

"I’m a huge fan of them both. They respect and love the game in a way that a lot of players don’t."

The uber-talented guards, who turned 16 on Sept. 23, thrive on their quickness, ball-handling and sharpshooting abilities on offense. On defense, their grittiness, passion and aggressiveness allow them to frustrate opponents and dominate the glass despite their 5-foot-7 frames.

"We’ve always been around it our whole life, so we always had a basketball in our hands," Mya Pauldo said. "We always saw our family playing, our brother, our dad. We’ve always been around. Us playing it, we did a whole bunch of other things, but we decided to do basketball because that’s the thing that we love."

More than eight years ago, DJ knocked down a garage next to the family's house in Paterson and built a full basketball court. On those rims and ones across the country, the groundwork was laid for two of New Jersey's top freshmen to blossom.

Some of the twins' earliest memories in the sport are taking over the court during halftime at their dad and brother Daizon's games. Daizon played at Paterson Eastside, graduating in 2020.

Mia and Mya torched boys on the Paterson peewee circuit and then began playing against girls three or four years older than them in the third grade. Now, they play year-round for the New Jersey Sparks.

Their younger sister, Nyasia, who is 10 months younger, just helped Eastside win the Passaic County title.

"They naturally loved it. We’ve done the swimming, we’ve done the gymnastics, we’ve done dancing, they just want to play basketball," DJ said. "It’s been easy for me because they love it. If anything, they’ve pushed me the last couple of years to keep my foot on the gas."

An important bond

Mia and Mya's path to Morris Catholic can be traced back to the golden era of Paterson basketball in the late 1990s.

Their father, DJ, played at Paterson Catholic, which is now Don Bosco Technology Academy, just as North Jersey legend Tim Thomas was arriving. Meanwhile, Lovett was learning the ropes under Bob Hurley at St. Anthony's.

DJ and Lovett squared off on the court, then joined forces on the club level. Years later, DJ returned to coach at his alma mater and Lovett took the helm of the East Orange boys program.

Lovett's son played for DJ when he was coaching the New Jersey Playaz program. DJ also played a role in starting up a camp for the Phoenix Mercury's — and former Rutgers great — Essence Carson.

The two stayed in touch as Lovett took over the Morris Catholic girls program in 2019 and DJ shifted into the training business.

When DJ wanted someone he could trust to coach his two daughters, it was an easy choice. After Mia and Mya reclassified during the pandemic last year, they moved west this season.

"We didn’t think it would turn into this, but it did. It’s very prophetic," DJ said. "We have no reason to drive 45 minutes here besides Billy Lovett. That’s the only reason. It’s everything. Billy knows it’s easy right now. You just let them go and it’s easy, but he knows his stuff."

Lovett said that it is great that DJ understands the game so well. They talk strategy at certain times and watched film prior to the season. But Lovett also said that DJ has steback during the season and "he's just dad."

Eyes on them

Mia and Mya have lofty goals off the court as well.

Through their Twin BackCourt brand, which includes an Instagram account (twinbackcourt23) with more than 6,600 followers and a YouTube channel, the twins hope to empower girls basketball players from the next generation.

"Outside of basketball, our brand is on and off the court," Mia said. "I want to develop our brand off the court and build in our urban community, such as Paterson. That’s really where I wanted to touch on. Inspire people and on and off the court."

The pair was recently featured in a series called "Pursuit of Light" on Kyrie and Asia Irving's brand, Her Kai & I, as individuals who are leaving a positive impact on the greater good of the community.

"Given that they’re so talented, so skilled and have so many eyes on them, it would be easy to absorb that attention and keep it within themselves," Huland El said. "They do an excellent job of sharing the ball. ... They recognize the fact that they wouldn’t have their individual success thus far without their teammates being so successful as well and rising to each occasion."

With four freshmen in the starting lineup, including Daniella Matus and Mya Sampong, and experienced junior Natalie Stoupakis, the Crusaders have rattled off 23 straight wins since a season-opening loss to St. John Vianney.

Mia and Mya are listed on espnW's HoopGurlz watch list for the Class of 2025.

Now, as their first postseason gets underway, the twins and the rest of the Crusaders are looking to see how far they can take this storybook season.

"It’s bigger than basketball," Lovett said. "To me, it’s how special they are as young ladies and how they have impacted the Morris Catholic community in such a positive manner from Day 1.

"To look at what they’ve done today is just amazing because you never think that freshmen could come in and impact a whole community the way that they have."

This article originally appeared on Morristown Daily Record: NJ girls basketball: Freshmen Pauldo twins star at Morris Catholic