Cheering On
December 30, 2002 04:41 PM | General
December 30, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Michelle Carter has been a cheerleader all her life. Whether it is on a high school sideline in Arkansas or on the West Virginia team bus prior to a game, Carter is the one putting smiles on her teammate's faces.
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| Junior Michelle Carter ranks third on the team in scoring with an average of 11.9 amepoints per g. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
The Little Rock, Ark., native played at Arkansas-Fort Smith junior college where a ‘me-first attitude' was ever-present. But Carter is the consummate team player and has taken a leadership role on this year's Mountaineer squad with a bright smile on her face.
"The biggest difference between junior college and Division I is that everybody wants to be on one accord here," the 6-2 forward says. "There's not just one person out there that wants to win like in junior college. Here everyone wants to win. It's a team effort in our case."
And it was the chance to be a part of that team concept that brought Carter from the warm flat lands of Arkansas to the rugged hills of West Virginia.
"When I came on my visit, it felt like I was at home," she says. "Morgantown is so far away from Little Rock, but still I got that home kind of feeling and that I was welcome. I felt I could adjust here."
While at Arkansas-Fort Smith, Carter averaged 21 points and 12 rebounds a game last season. A Bi-State all-conference and Region II first team performer, Carter helped her junior college team to an 18-10 record. Because of those efforts, she was ranked as the nation's fifth-best power forward and the 16th-best overall junior college player, something that quickly caught the eye of Coach Mike Carey and his basketball staff.
"Coach (Joanna) Bernabei had called one of my coaches and I just happened to be in the office. I didn't know a thing about West Virginia. I started talking to her the day after September 11. After she called the first time, she'd call every week and we'd have good conversations on the phone. We set up a visit last year during Christmas. When I came on the visit, the girls were nice and I could pick up on who was being real and who was being fake. Everyone was real and I felt like I fit in with them," Carter said.
Not only has she fit in but she's immediately helped the Mountaineers to the best start in school history.
Heading into the Big East opener against Notre Dame, Carter is third on the team with an 11.9 points per game average and ranks among the Big East leaders in rebounding with an average of 7.8 per game. In her most recent performance at Missouri-Kansas City on Sunday, Carter scored eight points and pulled down a team-high 13 rebounds. She played a team-high 39 minutes in the post.
Carter also garnered RazeWV.com Hoops Bash all-tournament team honors after averaging 14 points and 8.5 rebounds in the two-game tournament at WVU.
More important than her solid numbers is the fact that she has helped West Virginia to a perfect 10-0 start. The Mountaineers are one of just a handful of teams remaining with an undefeated record and are looking to crack that national rankings for the first time since 1992. WVU will take a big step toward achieving that goal when it faces nationally ranked Notre Dame at the WVU Coliseum on Jan. 8.
As for Carter, she started playing basketball in ninth grade at Parkview High after playing volleyball and being a member of the school's cheerleading squad.
"I was cheering at both men's and women's games," she says. "It just took off from there. I said I could play basketball and one day I went out there and just did it."
And in doing that, ever since that day when she first picked up a basketball, she has continually cheered on.
