Carryn Easley becoming an ‘unreal’ floor general for Neumann Goretti

Carryn Easley isn’t satisfied until all her teammates get the chance to score the basketball.

The 5-foot-4 junior has been a point guard since she started hooping, and getting her teammates in the scoring column is her favorite part of the game.

Easley always raises a hand in the air when her teammates hit a shot off her feed. She knows she wouldn’t be the player she is without them.

“It’s a thank you,” she added.

Easley is a part of one of the best backcourt combinations in the Catholic League this season, alongside classmate Amya Scott. The two were first team All-PCL selections as sophomores last year.

Neumann Goretti head coach Andrea Peterson knows a thing or two about the point guard position, as she once was a floor general on an NCAA tournament team at Drexel during her college career.

Easley has found a way to stand out.

“Just her way to see the floor is unreal,” Peterson said of Easley. “It’s just natural. It makes it easy when I know I have guards that can get downhill and make that extra pass to create for their teammates.

“I tell everyone when [other teams] are bigger than us they have to guard us first. Our guards have done a really good job of getting downhill and creating.”

Easley is becoming more of a complete player. As a freshman, Easley was a pass-first, and an only-pass, type of point guard. She averaged 6.5 points, 3.0 assists, and 2.1 steals in her first season with the Saints.

Peterson and her staff worked with Easley to become a multifaceted guard who can succeed in all game phases; passing, scoring, and defense. Last season, she earned first team All-PCL honors, while averaging 13.5 points, 3.7 assists, and 2.0 steals.

In her junior campaign, she embraced both roles as a scorer and floor general, averaging 14.6 points to go along with a team-high 6.9 assists and 3.1 steals.

“I’ve been playing way better than last year and my freshman year,” Easley said. “[But] I always thought there is still more work to be done.

“It’s all confidence. I didn’t really have the confidence last year.”

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College coaches have taken notice of her development this season. Easley earned her first Division I scholarship offer from Fordham in December.

“She does things as a smaller guard that most bigger guards can’t do and that puts her to that next level,” Peterson said. “She’s definitely developed every year.”

Her career-high in assists last season was eight. She’s recorded double-digit helpers five times this year with a season-high 13 against Séminaire Saint-François of Canada on Dec. 29.

“I just like seeing all my teammates score the ball and be happy,” Easley said. “It just happens. It’s natural.”

The Saints are deeper this season with freshman Reginna Baker making an immediate impact, leading the team with 16.6 points per game. Scott is averaging double figures (11.5) again as well as sophomore Kamora Berry (12.9), who has taken a step forward offensively.

Easley has certainly had a hand in that. She’s tallied 10 assists during Berry’s 22-point performance against Conwell-Egan on Jan. 18.

“[It’s] really easy,” Berry said about playing with Easley. “Y’all point guards are not better than her. She’s the best.”

The Saints are 12-2 so far and remain unbeaten (4-0) in the Catholic League.

Easley hopes to grow more composure on the court as the Saints look to make a run in the PCL playoffs. She’s also learning how to “steer the wheel” for her team when things get choppy.

“[Their] maturity now is learning to control the pace of the ball,” Peterson said. “Put the ball in my hands and create space — create for others and keep the ball in their hands at the end of the game.”

This story was produced as part of a partnership between The Inquirer and City of Basketball Love, a nonprofit news organization that covers high school and college basketball in the Philadelphia area while also helping mentor the next generation of sportswriters. This collaboration will help boost coverage of the city’s vibrant amateur basketball scene, from the high school ranks up through the Big 5 and beyond.