First-Rate in Her First Season : Basketball: Freshman point guard Taryn Reynolds has become the leader of the Notre Dame Academy team.

Taryn Reynolds is not your average 15-year-old high school freshman.

Most ninth-graders do not have to deal with the pressure and the expectations she has had to live with.

The 5-foot-6 Reynolds starts at point guard for Notre Dame Academy, which is 10-5 and in contention for the Sunshine League title.

“Ever since she enrolled at Notre Dame, she has had a lot of pressure placed on her,” Notre Dame Coach Ed Arona said. “And the thing is, she just turned 15.”

Many basketball scouts who have watched Reynolds play consider her one of the top freshmen in the state.

Before enrolling at Notre Dame, Reynolds led an Amateur Athletic Union team of 13-year-olds to the national finals in Louisiana.

“I had heard a lot about her before I finally got a chance to see her play,” Arona said. “The first time I saw her play was in an AAU game and I was amazed at her poise. It was remarkable to see someone play with such control at that age.”

Although there was speculation that Reynolds would attend a big-name basketball school, she settled on Notre Dame.

“I figured pretty much that I would be going to high school at Notre Dame because my mother (Lisa Reynolds-Sahara) is a teacher at Notre Dame Elementary,” said Reynolds, who lives in Alhambra. “Some schools like Bishop Montgomery and Bishop Amat wanted me to go there, but there wasn’t any question for me.”

Reynolds credits her mother for getting her interested in basketball.

“As soon as I was able to walk, my mother had me dribbling a basketball on the court with her,” Reynolds said. “She coached the basketball team at the elementary school and taught me the fundamentals at an early age.”

Once in high school, Reynolds adjusted immediately to her new teammates.

“You always hear horror stories about your freshman year,” Reynolds said. “How scary and hard it is. But it hasn’t been like that. Everyone on the team treats me great.”

This was supposed to be a rebuilding season for Notre Dame, which had back-to-back winning seasons and reached the quarterfinals in the Southern Section Division III playoffs the past two seasons.

But Reynolds, who is averaging 22 points and seven assists a game, has helped make the Regals a contender in the Sunshine League.

With senior guard Veronica Guzman missing most of the season because of illnesses, Reynolds has had to take over the bulk of the scoring for Notre Dame.

In the Regals’ 37-35 overtime win over Marlborough, Reynolds faced a box-and-one defense and scored 16 points. Then, in Notre Dame’s 44-43 double-overtime win over Immaculate Heart, she scored 23 points.

“It’s tough to come in as a freshman and become the leader of the team, but she’s handled the role,” Arona said. “She’s a phenom who is only going to get better.

“We have an inexperienced team and I’ve had to spend a lot of time teaching fundamentals. I know she gets frustrated at times because we haven’t spent time paying attention to the work she needs to improve. Right now, she is just so far ahead of the rest.”

So far, Reynolds is taking her success in stride.

“I don’t consider myself as a good basketball player yet,” said Reynolds, who has a B-plus average academically. “I have a lot of work to do.”

Teams have tried to rough up Reynolds because they are having trouble stopping her with normal defenses. But that doesn’t bother Reynolds.

“Facing defenses like that only makes me stronger,” Reynolds said. “I feel that I can only help the team when that happens.”

Arona is looking forward to having Reynolds on his team for the next three seasons.

“Hopefully, we’ll be able to get a better support group for (Reynolds),” he said. “We have a young team that has worked hard this season. But if we had to play without Taryn this season, we’d have some real problems.”