Where were you when Ella Peper dunked for the first time?.
Dexter Southfield had finished up school on Oct. 2, 2023, leaving Peper to shoot around in the gym. Her father, Craig, was nearby, watching his son Jack’s fourth-grade practice. Orlagh Gormley, the Massachusetts Gatorade Player of the Year, had been teasing Peper, in eighth grade at the time, that she was still a few years away from being able to dunk.
Peper had seen a video of another girl dunking in high school, and she set her mind to do the same. She lifted with her team, added box jumps and other workouts at home, and grabbed weights for calf raises while watching the Celtics. She quickly realized she was getting pretty close.
“I jumped, tried to dunk it with the boys ball and I was like — hold on a second. Hold on a second. I'm up there,” she said.