Carter shines for women's basketball team

In many cases, bright spots can stand out, illuminating and shining above everything else that surrounds it.

Sometimes, they're a bit harder to find. On the surface, one would take a look at the University of Bridgeport women's basketball team, see that the team was 8-15, and conclude that nobody on the team did anything of particular note. That person would be mistaken.

Junior forward/center Tanisha Carter stood out in a major way for the Purple Knights this season, averaging a team high 16.2 points and 8.3 rebounds per game, as well as shooting 44% from the floor

Carter is a transfer from Eastern Connecticut State, a D-3 program, where she spent the previous years. Last year, she averaged 11.2 PPG, and her team went 21-9 and advanced to the second round of the NCAA tournament. However, Carter decided that she wanted to try a higher level of competition.

"It's a really good program there, I enjoyed it, but I just felt that I could come to play at the next level," she said.

Connections established a few years before helped lead her to UB. Beginning in the fifth grade, Carter started playing AAU basketball with the Connecticut Starters, a travel team that plays primarily in the summer and travels across the United States. Carter said that she started playing AAU basketball because of her brother John, who she considers a major role model in her life along with her father.

Stephanie Hiriak, one of the assistant coaches for UB women's basketball head coach Stephanie Del Preore coached Carter while she was playing AAU, and after Carter got her release from ECSU, Carter contacted UB, and soon after visited the campus and decided to transfer.

Del Preore said that Carter has been a great fit, bringing a sense of toughness and hard work ethic to the team.

"She keeps us going a lot of the time. She's a great rebounder. She's a force on the court so she fits in great with us," Del Preore said.

One area Del Preore believes Carter needs to improve on is her aggressiveness on the court. Del Preore said that she should try and demand the ball more, because when gets her hands on it, good things happen for the team.

Carter attributed a lot of her success this season to the play of her teammates, who she said she could not be successful without.

"It comes from our guards," she said. "Players like Edna (Marant) and Aziza (Patterson), they set up plays so that I can get the ball.  They sometimes take a lot of pressure off me. Games when I'm not doing good, they step up. They knock down the good shots."

Marant said she and Carter have become good friends and that off the court, they will look over certain plays together.

Some athletes rely on intense pre-game rituals to get them hyped up for games. Carter said she listens to music before the game, and along with motivational texts her father sends her; it helps her clear her head.

Although the team's record doesn't reflect it, Carter said that the team was very competitive in conference play, and pointed out the team's 69-61 win over Dowling, which was undefeated at that point, on February 1 as her favorite moment of the season.

Carter is a sociology major and hopes to become a case worker. She said she doesn't envision playing basketball after college, but that anything is possible.

While the team she was on this season wasn't as successful as the team she was on last season, Carter said she appreciates the high level of competition which she felt was lacking at ECSU.

"I'm really proud that I got to play here," Carter said.