Dynamic playmaker guides Aggies’ fortunes
Freshman Carter began honing her skills dribbling tennis balls on grass as a child
COLLEGE STATION — Chennedy Carter had her own version of the old football term “basketball on grass” back home in Mansfield, only it was to better herself at basketball while somewhat involving tennis.
Allow Carter, Texas A&M’s standout freshman point guard, to better explain.
“My dad had me doing things I didn’t think were possible,” Carter said. “He had me dribbling a tennis ball in the grass. I would tell him, ‘Dad, I can’t dribble it, the ball keeps bouncing away.’ He’d say, ‘You’ve got to learn to control the ball. If you can dribble it in the grass, you can dribble it on the court.’ ”
‘I sleep with a basketball’
Plenty of parents push their children to excel in sports, but the fervor must be reciprocated by the youth. That was never an issue with Carter.
“Honestly, I sleep with a basketball,” Carter said, adding that she was serious. “That’s how much love I have for the game.”
It has been evident for the No. 15 Aggies, who play Arkansas on Thursday in the league tournament in Nashville, Tenn.
A&M (22-8), which earned a bye in the first round of the SEC tournament as its No. 5 seed, is angling to host the first two rounds of the NCAA Tournament, and Carter is a big reason why the Aggies have a good chance.
This week, Carter, whose first name is pronounced “Kennedy,” was named SEC Freshman of the Year after leading all freshmen nationally in scoring by averaging 22 points per game. She also set an SEC freshman record as well as a school mark with 46 points in a nonconference contest against Southern California on Dec. 15.
Exceeding the fanfare
In addition, the dynamic playmaker was named first-team all-conference by the Associated Press and the league’s unanimous newcomer of the year.
“She has lived up to everything that she was supposed to be,” A&M coach Gary Blair said of Carter, the nation’s sixthranked player a year ago out of Mansfield’s Timberview High. “She’s backed up the (hype) and been consistent. She hasn’t just scored 46 points in one game and disappeared in the next two.
“She’s only had one game scoring under 10 points, and that was eight.”
Carter grew up 75 miles north of Waco and was a big-time Baylor fan. The Lady Bears won national titles in 2005 and 2012 and coach Kim Mulkey has consistently fielded one of the nation’s top programs. But one showdown in 2011 changed Carter’s affinity, when A&M defeated Baylor in the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament in Dallas, 35 miles from her hometown.
The Lady Bears had defeated A&M three times earlier that season, but the Aggies prevailed when it counted most, and then two games later won the program’s lone national title. Meanwhile, a tennis ball-dribbling 12-year-old girl just south of the Metroplex paid rapt attention.
“After A&M beat Baylor, A&M became my dream school,” Carter said.
The 5-7 Carter has been a nightmare for opposing coaching in becoming the first Aggie since Morenike Atunrase in 2005 to win league freshman of the year honors (with A&M in the Big 12 at the time).
‘That’s an NBA move’
Southern Cal coach Mark Trakh was in disbelief after Carter reeled off the 46 points in December in the Aggies’ one-point victory in Los Angeles. Everyone in the building knew who would take the final shot, and the Trojans were helpless to defend Carter on her game-winner.
“My assistant Jason Glover has NBA (coaching) experience, and that last defense against her, she faked it and spun off the screen and came off and he said, ‘That’s an NBA move. She just pulled a Chris Paul move,’ ” Trakh said. “That’s how good this kid is. There wasn’t much of a defensive plan, except, ‘Hope she misses.’ ”
Carter learned those moves on her home grass, on the driveway and on the street.
“Our goal at home is worn down now,” she said, smiling. “If we were to go to my house right now, it’s probably leaning, from how many hours and how much work I put in with my brothers and dad in trying to be great and accomplish my dreams.”
When her parents arrived home from work and park in the driveway, the kids often rolled the goal from the driveway to the street.
“It has wheels,” she said of her beloved and threadbare goal. “The kids in the neighborhood would come over and play, and we’d have these little tournaments.”
Carter has two older brothers and a younger one, and pick-up games were always plentiful at the Carter home — when the lone daughter wasn’t dribbling a tennis ball on grass.
“My brothers and father pushed me to a level I didn’t think I could go,” Carter said. “That’s why I’m here today.”