Kyle Goon: They came from the same Maryland AAU team. But their paths to the WNBA Finals were starkly different.

When it comes to rebounding, no one can touch Angel Reese. For three straight seasons, the forward has led the WNBA in boards per game.

But Reese can see when an opponent is matching her energy on the glass — and it’s even easier to recognize when it’s a familiar face.

Golden State guard Kaila Charles, a Prince George’s County native who played for the Terrapins women’s basketball team from 2016-20, is one of the Valkyries’ fiercest, most physical competitors, a scrappy rotational player off the bench who has helped Golden State match up with Reese’s Atlanta Dream with pure physicality.

Reese is the bigger star, but there was a time when Charles’ footsteps helped guide her path.

“She was actually one of the reasons I committed to Maryland — her and A.T. [Alyssa Thomas],” Reese said of Charles. “Being able to see how hard they played in college but also being able to see her [Charles] stick and being able to do the things that she’s done … it’s really good to see a DMV player being able to be here and be in this moment.”

Charles was one of the first stars of Team Takeover in the Nike Girls Elite Youth Basketball League program, a Prince George’s County AAU squad that went on to win its first national title with Reese as its star. Their common ground in DMV basketball explains how Reese and Charles, despite playing different positions, both play a physical style that feels instantly recognizable to the people who watched them grow up.

Team Takeover program director Ron James has relished seeing two of his former protégées face off on the WNBA’s biggest stage. It’s the first time the team has had two former players competing against each other in the Finals — and James isn’t surprised it is these two.

“They’re not gonna back down from anybody,” he said, “not even each other.”

While Reese has long seemed destined for stardom, Charles was a late bloomer. James saw her as a ninth grader, then unknown on the national circuit, but her competitiveness jumped at him immediately. In practice, she rarely lost a sprint. On defense, she refused to cede an inch.

As a seventh grader, Charles set a goal to be a WNBA player. By the end of her senior year at Riverdale Baptist, she was a McDonald’s All-American, a highly touted recruit for the Terps and well on her way to that goal.

Shatori Walker-Kimbrough, one of Reese’s teammates on the Dream, was roommates with freshman-year Charles. Even then, Charles could impact games on a level most players could not.

“She was just one of those players that like, you felt her every time she was on the court,” Walker-Kimbrough said. “Whether that was rebounding, whether that was deflections, whether that was hitting shots — whatever you needed her to do, you always felt her presence.”

Charles is one of six Maryland players to finish as one of the program’s top-10 scorers and rebounders, and she had 135 career starts to tie Thomas’ program record.

It felt like the capstone to her career was going to be special. When she was a senior, the No. 4 Terps won 17 straight games, including the Big Ten tournament.

Then the pandemic happened.

Terps coach Brenda Frese swears to this day that Maryland would have been back in the Final Four that year with Charles as the team’s All-America star. “It was tragic,” Frese said.

Under the cloud of the pandemic, everything seemed tougher. Charles was drafted by the Connecticut Sun but was cut in 2022 after two nondescript years. It was painful, but unfortunately Charles would get used to the feeling. She has been waived four more times.

She played European stints in Hungary and Italy, succeeding in foreign arenas but never losing sight of returning to the WNBA.

“I did learn a lot, and I fed off of the different teams, learned from the different coaches and, yeah, I wouldn’t be here without that experience,” Charles said.

It took until 2025 for Charles to find a team that was looking for her skill set and experience. She joined the expansion Valkyries on a hardship contract and then signed another deal that brought her on for the rest of the season.

In April, she signed a multiyear contract with Golden State, bringing her much-sought stability.

“Every day that I got to be able to get up and go to work, like, I was just really happy and appreciative,” Charles said. “But, for that to turn into us having a good playoff run and not being in the Finals, it’s just amazing to look back and see how it was going. Everything all added up for this one moment.”

The Valkyries’ home crowd, Ballhalla, is renowned for sellouts and ear-splitting volume. Charles returns that in kind with ferocious defense and energy in ways that show up outside the box score.

Maryland has four former players in the Finals, including Reese (who transferred to LSU), Walker-Kimbrough and Brionna Jones (who is injured) on the Atlanta roster.

But Frese derives special pleasure from seeing Charles playing big minutes in the Finals, finally getting her due. Charles hit a 3-pointer in Game 1 that had Frese screaming in her living room.

“I’m not surprised; that’s who she was — unsung but a winner,” Frese said. “We’re seeing why she’s been so valuable on every team. She just wants to win. She’s not gonna take a night off; she’s not gonna take a possession off. She’s a huge piece of who the Valkyries are.”

Marylanders are no stranger to the Finals — five former Terps played in the 2019 series — but this one has felt special. Thomas, the wife of Atlanta star DeWanna Bonner, has sat courtside as a fan, dapping up Reese during Game 3. Walker-Kimbrough said Thomas has sometimes offered observations and tips to the Dream after games.

Ultimately, there will be a Maryland winner in these Finals. Charles and Reese know the players who want to be like them are watching. They hope they’re inspired.

“The journey don’t have to be straight, you know?” Charles said. “We still made it here, because we had that mentality — that dog that you get when you’re raised in PG County. So it’s just a matter of just continuing to believe in yourself, work hard and then just trust your journey.”