Mair Plays Invaluable Role for High-Flying Blue Devils
Meredith Rieder, GoDuke The Magazine
With DJ Khaled’s All I Do Is Win blaring over the speakers inside Cameron Indoor Stadium following another home win for the Duke women’s basketball team, senior point guard Taina Mair dribbles out the clock before sharing high fives with her teammates.
And it’s all done with the kindest and most genuine smile, enjoying the moment while knowing her “why” is either sitting in the stands cheering or watching back home in Dorchester, Massachusetts.
It’s another victory added to Mair’s total as the Blue Devils’ floor general over the past two-and-a-half seasons in Durham — a number that is up to 65 and counting. The 65 wins, 14 of which have come this season for the 20th-ranked Blue Devils, are already the most in a three-year span for Duke since the 2015-18 campaigns and are just seven shy of matching that mark with nearly half of the season left to play.
“Mair is a winner,” said Duke women’s basketball head coach Kara Lawson. “Her competitiveness and her intensity are always (there), no matter the score, no matter the quarter. She wants to do what’s best for the team all the time, so it is nice to see in her senior year she is getting to showcase everything. She’s improved a lot and I’m really proud of her.”
Mair’s connection to basketball all started within the family — a theme you’ll find throughout her story — and wanting in the biggest way to be just like her older sister, Trayana. Taina remembers being the kid who was out on the court at halftime of her sister’s high school games putting up shots. Most of them didn’t reach the rim, but she was doing everything she could to emulate her sister.
Trayana went on to play at New England College where she wore No. 22 — the same number Taina wears for the Blue Devils today.
“Definitely my sister,” said Mair about who had an impact on her in basketball. “I wanted to be like my big sister so bad, so I started playing.”
It wasn’t too long after those halftime moments that Mair’s mother, Mercy Pineda, enrolled her daughter in a local non-profit basketball program called No Books No Ball. This was one of the many activities Mair participated in during what she describes as a busy childhood filled with playing outside and constantly taking part in after-school activities.
Mair dabbled in other sports over the course of her scholastic athletic career, including soccer and softball. Softball didn’t last too long for Mair after her competitive spirit came out a little too much and she had a simple “conversation” with the ump. Her home was always meant to be on the basketball court.
Pineda discovered No Books No Ball (NBNB) through the church they attended every Sunday. It just so happened that the founder of NBNB also was a member of the church and he invited Pineda to bring her down to join in on the fun.
“We went to church every Sunday and Tony Richards, who runs No Books No Ball, he went to our church too and told her, ‘Just tell her come down and play.’ I started from there, just playing with all the boys every Saturday.”
No Books No Ball’s mission statement on its website describes the organization as one that “offers a unique blend of basketball training and essential life skills that emphasize sportsmanship and academic success. Our mission is to empower athletes by teaching them the values of teamwork, discipline and perseverance both on and off the court.”
The players had to show their grades to be able to play, placing accountability on the kids to be able to reap the benefits of basketball on Saturdays and practices during the week.
“You had to show your grades,” Mair said. “You had to have threes and fours to be able to play. You had to be academically in a great spot. (It was great encouragement) because I wanted to play on Saturday. I wanted to go to Orchard Gardens and play basketball on my team and go to practices. But if you weren't getting it done in the classroom, you couldn't play.”
It was around middle school when Mair recognized she was better than average at the sport. After all, in eighth grade she was playing for both her middle school and for the varsity team at the high school.
Mair excelled on the court for Brooks School in North Andover, Massachusetts where she led the girl’s basketball team to the 2018-19 NEPSAC Class D title and was named the 2020 NEPSAC Class B Player of the Year after averaging 18 points, 8.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game. This is also the time when Mair began to understand through conversations with her coach Ushearnda Stroud the opportunities basketball could provide her, and perhaps more importantly, for her mother.
“I just played basketball for fun,” Mair said. “I never thought about my mom not having to pay a dime for me to go to school. She took me to colleges. It was the first time I’ve ever been on college campuses. She told me, ‘You can come here for free, play basketball, do all this stuff to help your mom.’ And I was like, maybe this is something I should take seriously.”
Stroud drove Mair down to George Washington for a small camp, her first college camp. And it turned out to be the first Division I offer for Mair.
Mair remembers still being in awe at the thought of her mom not having to pay for anything and she continued to work hard — just like she does every day for Duke — and the bar continued to get higher.
“It just became a goal for me,” Mair said. “When she explained to me what college basketball could do for you as a player, I was like, ‘I definitely want to be a part of this.’ And this is in eighth grade before I'm going to high school. Now I’m going to workouts, maybe twice a day, instead of once, or starting to learn about lifting. I kind of wanted my mom to just live a more peaceful life and if I could do that through basketball, I wanted to be able to give that to her.”
Pineda immigrated to the United States from Honduras when she was around 12 or 13 and then had three children — Trayana, Taina and Talik — by the time she was in her early 20s. Pineda worked hard to provide the best for her kids and for them to have every experience possible.
“She’s always had to work every day of her life,” Mair said. “Since she was a teenager, (she worked) to be able to provide for us. For me to make my mother proud and happy means a lot to me because she sacrificed a lot for every single one of us.”
After a great high school career at Brooks and on the AAU circuit, Mair landed at Boston College. She earned a starting role immediately with the Eagles, finishing the year averaging 11.1 points, 4.7 rebounds, 6.6 assists and 2.0 steals per game to earn a spot on the All-ACC Freshman team.
Mair loved her time at Boston College and felt comfortable there, but through thoughtful conversations with Stroud, Mair began thinking deeply about what her ultimate goals were and whether there was a place that might put her in an even better position to achieve those goals.
“I was very appreciative of what (Boston College) did for me,” Mair said. “I had never thought about (transferring), but (my high school coach) told me to take some time to think about it and whether BC fits my goals. And, if not, I could transfer. I was thinking about the player development and asking myself, ‘is everybody going to pour into me as a player and as a woman?’ And then I thought maybe it’s time for me to branch out.”
Making the decision to transfer, the entire family of four made the trip down to Durham, the first time her mom had visited the state of North Carolina. They met with Lawson and Mair says she knew then Duke was where she was supposed to be.
“Kara was talking to my family, and I remember my mom getting super emotional,” Mair said. “She started crying. And then my sister got emotional. I was like ‘Why is everybody crying in front of Coach Kara?’ I was embarrassed. And then my brother started getting emotional. (Kara) was being honest and saying what she could do for me and how she can help me develop not just as a player but also as a young woman. I felt it too, but I’m not much of a crier. Seeing my mom (get) emotional meant something to me because I trust my mom’s instincts. A mother’s instincts are never wrong.”
Mair stepped in and has done nothing but make the Blue Devils better in whatever way asked of her. Her first season, Mair averaged 9.8 points and 3.6 assists per game in 34 starts, helping Duke to the Sweet 16.
The following year, her role changed a little with the personnel the Blue Devils had on the court with her. Mair took 91 fewer shots as a junior despite playing three more games, finishing the year averaging 6.7 points per game.
The scoring dip was not an indictment on her game, rather it was a nod to her unselfishness and willingness to do whatever the team needed to win. And Duke won a lot. The Blue Devils captured the ACC Championship and were a couple of possessions away from a Final Four.
“She never complains about any of it, and she does it because her goal is to win,” Lawson said about Mair’s attitude on her shifting role. “It’s just unique in this day and age to have a player like that. She’s capable of scoring 20 points every night. She really is. But she wants to do what’s best for the team all the time.”
Now as a senior, Mair is averaging 11.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game — all career bests. And she is running the offense for the 14-6 Blue Devils who are also one of two unbeatens in ACC play and riding an 11-game win streak entering the last week of January.
There isn’t enough space here to dive into Mair’s interests off the court. She has a solid basketball trading card collection she started in 2012, but even more interesting is her love for meteorology.
Pursuing a minor in climate science at Duke, Mair says she has been obsessed with tornadoes for as long as she can remember.
“My favorite movies are Into the Storm or Twister,” Mair said. “And I’ve a weird obsession with tornadoes since I was really young. I used to watch the weather channel and Tornado Alley would be on and I loved to see the tornadoes. So, I was like, I want to be there on the spot reporting about weather. I’m just really into weather and weather phenomenon.”
Mair says her meteorology career will come after basketball is no longer a part of her daily life. So, one day you might tune into The Weather Channel and find the Boston native who only ever got to see rain and snow as a kid growing up giving you all the details of the latest incoming storm.
Until then, Mair will be on the court with the Blue Devils. You can plan for her to hit about 40 percent of her shots and hand out 30 percent of the team’s assists while playing with 100 percent effort.
This story originally appeared in the 17.6 issue of GoDuke The Magazine. Dedicated to sharing the stories of Duke student-athletes, present and past, GoDuke The Magazine is published for Duke Athletics by LEARFIELD with editorial offices at 3100 Tower Blvd., Suite 404, Durham, NC 27707. To subscribe, join the Iron Dukes or call (336) 831-0767.