Carpenter builds anew
After moving from Texas, senior guard-turned-forward flourishes at Kankakee Valley
Kankakee Valley is the ninth school that senior Lyric Carpenter has attended.
There have been three elementary schools, three middle schools and three high schools.
So when Carpenter and her family moved from Texas to the Region in April, she said she “was not surprised at all.”
“We already had been moving a bunch. It’s crazy,” she said. “I said, ‘Let’s go. Let’s see what God has for us down here.’ ”
Indiana was a new state for Carpenter.
“I was a little shocked, but I processed it pretty quickly,” she said.
Carpenter participated in summer workouts and played volleyball in the fall, making a rather quick and seamless transition at Kankakee Valley. That was true both on the court, where the 5-foot-8 forward is averaging a team-high 8.6 points and 5.0 rebounds for the Kougars (8-3), and off.
“She brings a lot of energy,” senior guard Abigail Walstra said. “That’s the big thing. When we’re down, she always brings us back up no matter what’s going on. We could be losing, and she’s over here jumping up and down for us.
“She got her spot, and she plays as hard as she can when she gets in there. She never backs down.”
Walstra’s father, David, is in his first season as the Kougars’ coach. The 1997 Kankakee Valley graduate took over shortly before the season started after two seasons as the junior varsity coach and a previous stint of four seasons as an assistant.
“She’s a great kid,” David Walstra said of Carpenter. “Smart in school. Just a fantastic asset to our team. She’s fit in really good with the girls. We have eight seniors. We already had seven, and she’s our eighth.”
David Walstra just had to fit Carpenter into the lineup.
“We needed a post, so she’s filled in there,” he said. “I’m not even sure if she played guard or post before. But she’s playing the post for us, playing some teams with 6-footers. She’s doing a heck of a job in there.”
Carpenter said she actually played guard her entire life. But she has embraced her role inside.
“It’s different playing post,” she said. “But
I’m picking up on it . ... Bodying people up and taking charges, it’s so fun.”
Carpenter started high school in Corpus Christi. She averaged 6.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.2 steals at West Oso as a freshman, when she also tried softball for a season. She averaged 9.1 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.3 steals as a sophomore.
Carpenter then went to Carroll, another school in Corpus Christi that is her mother’s alma mater, for her junior year and averaged 10.0 points and 6.7 rebounds.
Both of her parents are educators. Her father, Abram, has been a teacher, a coach and a school counselor. Her mother, Shaye, has been a teacher, a coach and an administrator, including an assistant principal and an assistant athletic director.
“My dad was looking to bring a place to the city where he could help kids with behavioral issues get back into the flow of school,” Lyric Carpenter said. “They leave and go places and come back and do the same