For the Lady Mustangs, the player with the most points per game was Zarria Carter, criminal justice junior. She averaged 15.9 points per game in her first year as a Lady Mustang. She joined the Mustangs when the university hired now-head coach Brenita Jackson.
Carter found her love for basketball at a young age. It was during a basketball game where Carter was a cheerleader for the team that she decided she wanted to give basketball a go.
“I was in like second grade, but I wanted to do cheerleading at the church and I did cheerleading for a season. We did cheerleading for the basketball games, and I saw the game and was like, ‘That looks fun I want to try that instead,’” Carter said, adding, “The next year my mom signed me up for basketball. It was just natural. I just got out there and shots were falling, and it was just something I was very blessed with. I took what the lord blessed me with and just ran with it.”
Carter was a sophomore in high school when she first realized that she could go further with her basketball career than just playing for her school.
“It was my sophomore year of high school. A lot of my friends were on AAU teams, and I wasn’t. I was just playing for the school. But one of my friends was closer with one of the directors of an AAU organization, and he saw us play and was like ‘Hey would you like to come play for us?’ That’s how I got into realizing I could actually go somewhere with this and do something with this. When I realized that, it was kind of like the turning point in my mind set,” Carter said.
While in high school, Carter wasn’t particular about where she ended up playing college ball. She was more focused on getting to a school that would allow her to play, as well as which school would give her the better scholarship.
“When I was in highschool, I didn’t really care where I went, I just wanted the school paid for, so I just signed with the first school that gave me the best offer, a full-ride,” Carter said.
Carter signed to a NAIA school in Texas right out of high school. She attended Texas Wesleyan, where Jackson was her head coach, but transferred to MSU when Jackson was offered the head coaching position.
Jackson is the coach that Carter looks up to the most. Jackson has helped shape Carter into the player that she is and will continue to do so in Carter’s last year of eligible play.
“She is just amazing all around. After being in an environment with her and Coach KJ, and seeing how much fun and love that they have for the game, really inspired me to dive deeper into for myself,” Carter said.
Jackson is not the only coach to have an impact on the athlete Carter has turned out to be. Her high school coach, Kenni Patton, is the reason Carter plays the way she does.
“How I play is from my high school coach, Kenni Patton. She was the head coach at Mansfield. She started there my freshman year. She really helped me build my confidence in being a post,” Carter said.
After college, Carter wants to look into her options of playing overseas. If that doesn’t work out she plans to get her master’s in business.
“If I have the opportunity to go overseas I will take it. I don’t know how long I’ll be playing, but I’ll go. I know I want to travel the world. So if I can have basketball take me there, and get that from it, then I will take it undoubtedly,” Carter said, adding, “But if not then I will go into graduate school, and get my masters in business, because I want to eventually own a rental business, like housing and stuff like that,” Carter said.
The 2024-25 season will be Carter’s last season of eligibility for college basketball, and she plans to make the most of it. Her goal is to make it into the Lone Star Conference playoff and go deep into the postseason.
