Trinity grad finishing what she doesn’t start
To Mary Dunn, being a starter for the Youngstown State University women’s basketball team is not important.
“It’s who finishes,” the Trinity High School grad said.
It is this attitude that makes Dunn a leading candidate for the Horizon League Sixth Man of the Year Award.
She goes from bench to game action at warp speed, heating up like a microwave.
“She’s been outstanding,” said John Barnes, coach of the 18-6, 10-3 Horizon League, Penguins.
A 6-foot-3 junior forward-center, Dunn averages a team-best 13.8 points, 6.4 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 23 minutes per game. And if you like efficiency, consider Dunn scored 22 points in 24 minutes against Thiel, 24 in 25 versus Detroit Mercy, 26 in 23 against the University of Illinois at Chicago and 22 in 18 against Cleveland State.
She ranks first in the Horizon League in field goal percentage (.576), fourth in scoring and fifth in blocks. She also likes the long ball. Dunn is 10 of 23 from 3-point range. All this, and not an ounce of ego. A two-time Horizon League Player of the Week, Dunn could have balked at the idea of being the Penguins’ sixth man, particularly after starting 34 games in her first two seasons.
Instead, she chooses to embrace it.
“Everyone likes the glory of being out there at the start of a game,” said Dunn, the only non-senior captain for the Penguins. “But for me, I like to do things that help my team win games. And if that means coming off the bench, then I’m happy doing it.”
Dunn is in good company when it comes to her sixth-man duties. NBA greats such as Manu Ginobli, Kevin McHale, Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson and Bill Walton came off the bench, each helping his team to a championship. James Harden, arguably the greatest scorer of this era, was once a sixth man.
“The biggest thing for me is to know my role, and my role is to score the basketball and do whatever I can with the minutes I get,” said Dunn, who plays behind fifthyear senior Sarah Cash. “When I’m scoring, I stay in the game longer.”
Dunn has registered point totals of 26, 24, 23, 22, 22 and 22 since Dec. 20. She’s averaging 18.3 points in her past six games. She also has three double-doubles and has blocked three or more shots in 12 games, with a high of five.
Asked what she loves to do most on the court, Dunn laughed.
“I love scoring,” said the 2017 Horizon League Freshman of the Year.
Not surprising, given Dunn is the daughter of two former basketball players — mom played at Duquesne, dad at Saint Vincent College — and has worked on her craft since grade school.
Yet, basketball hardly defines Dunn, the epitome of a student-athlete. She has carried a 4.0 grade point average throughout her collegiate career (she majors in communications and sociology and minors in political science and psychology) and was one of five Youngstown State players to finish the first semester with a 4.0.
But wait, there’s more. Dunn has such an engaging personality that she has been summoned to assist Barnes in recruiting. She often hosts visiting players, selling the university and basketball program to the recruit and her family. “She’s super outgoing,” said Barnes, who landed Blackhawk High senior Mady Aulbach thanks, in part, to the efforts of Dunn.
“She makes our recruits feel welcome. She really relates to anyone and can talk to anyone. She can have a very adult conversation with the parents, then talk to a high school kid about music or Netflix or an artist. She’s just a great teammate and a great all-around young woman.”
Of late, Dunn has become involved in a student group fighting against human trafficking. This is a major issue in Ohio, she said.
The Department of Homeland Security describes human trafficking as modern-day slavery involving the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act. Each year, millions of men, women and children are trafficked in countries around the world, including the United States.
It is estimated that human trafficking generates billions of dollars of profit per year, second only to drug trafficking as the most profitable form of transnational crime.
“To see how relevant it is, and how common it is right in our area, that stuck with me,” Dunn said.
Dunn said she’d like to eventually play basketball overseas, while also pursuing a doctorate or, potentially a law degree. For now, though, she is focused on helping the Penguins, who recently had a five-game winning streak snapped, advance deep into the postseason. As a sixth man.
“We have so much potential,” she said. “We’ve beaten the top team in our conference, and we think we can go far. We think we have the potential to win the Horizon League tournament. We just have to keep working, keep getting better every day.”