Chennedy Carter is a force to be reckoned with in women’s basketball

She’s only a sophomore, but trust me, you better learn the name Chennedy Carter now.

The day before the Sweet Sixteen matchup between Texas A&M and Notre Dame, Fighting Irish head coach Muffet McGraw did not sound confident in who she would task with stopping Aggies sophomore Chennedy Carter.

How can you possibly stop someone who, up until this point, was the leading scorer in the NCAA Tournament through the first two rounds averaging 31 points per game, including a 40-point outing against Marquette in the second round?

Short answer? You can’t really.

After the game, although Notre Dame walked away with the 87-80 win, McGraw joked about being a prophet after Carter went on a scoring spree for 35 points against the Fighting Irish.

“We had a lot of ideas, and none of them worked,” McGraw said. “Double-teaming was the last idea, and I thought that was a little more effective when we remembered to do it. She’s really hard to guard. She might be the best individual player that we’ve played all year.”

From the moment the ball was tipped it was clear that was Notre Dame’s gameplan against Carter. Double-team her, force her to give up the ball and let the other four players on the court beat you.

The only problem was that plan went south pretty quickly. It didn’t matter who McGraw threw at Carter, almost each time down the floor she was in her bag with a myriad of moves that drew “oohs” and “aahs” from the Notre Dame-slanted crowd in Chicago. One moment she’d pull a defender out, hit them with a smooth crossover to pull up from three. The next time, she’d drive into the lane and finish effortlessly at the rim.

By the end of the first half Carter was up to 16 points and was a big reason why the Aggies were tied with the Fighting Irish heading into the locker room. Even at the half, Coach McGraw was exhausted with trying to figure out how to slow down Carter.

You heard that right. Coach McGraw, one of the greatest coaches in college basketball history, basically said her team had no answer for Carter because she is unguardable. She’s not wrong either.

Throughout the season, Carter regularly put up numbers like the ones she posted against Notre Dame in the Sweet Sixteen. Hitting the 40-point mark three different times in the regular season, and being three or fewer points away from that feat 10 more times.

Carter isn’t just a threat from long range, she can score from just about everywhere on the floor, which makes her extremely difficult to gameplan for. However, when it comes to her 3-point shooting, Carter’s pretty confident her shot extends far beyond the 3-point line. When asked about it postgame, Carter called her spot on the floor.

After every made shot she’s letting you hear it. From fist pumps to yelling in the direction of the Notre Dame crowd to pointing up at the scoreboard to remind everyone in attendance how many points she has.

“If I had to pick a spot, I would say the hash mark where the coaches are at, I probably can shoot from there,” Carter said.

If that range reminds you of someone familiar, you’d be right in thinking that’s Stephen Curry-esque range. In fact, Carter said Curry’s dedication to his shooting is who she models her hard work in the gym after.

Similar to Curry, Carter has the ability to quiet the crowd each time the ball leaves her hands. When Carter got even a sliver of space to get her shot off against Notre Dame, the Fighting Irish fans held their breath hoping for a miss because they became accustomed very quickly to Carter hitting unbelievable shot after unbelievable shot as the game went on.

The most awe-inspiring sequence came at the end of the third quarter, when Carter was trying to will the Aggies back against the Irish. Guarded tightly by Marina Mabrey, Carter went through her legs once, crossed her up came around a screen to hit the acrobatic shot. Carter, and the Aggies bench, went wild. The shot didn’t count, but it was just the latest example of the explosiveness Carter can display at a moment’s notice.

It’s not just Carter’s scoring that drives opposing fans crazy. It’s the passion, energy, some might say cockiness, that she exudes throughout an entire game. After every made shot she’s letting you hear it, from fist pumps to yelling in the direction of the Notre Dame crowd to pointing up at the scoreboard to remind everyone in attendance how many points she has (she was up to 28 points at the time).

There were several times throughout the game that Carter and several Notre Dame players exchanged words due to Carter’s outward emotion. That ability to get under the skin of her opponents is something that Carter’s head coach Gary Blair is familiar with.

“I’ve seen it happen for two straight years,” Blair said.

A quick look at the box score from the Sweet Sixteen game will show you that while Carter had 35 points, it wasn’t the most efficient way to get there. It took her 34 shots, but if you ask her coach, when you’re the best player on the team, sometimes that’s what it takes.

“That’s what a scorer has to do,” Blair said. “That’s what Kobe Bryant had to do all his life. He could go 7-for-24 and the Lakers would win. Throw the stats out the window. The ability to create your shot and put a team on your shoulders and be able to handle a miss — there’s a lot of kids that can’t handle a miss. She can handle a miss as well as anybody and think about the next shot she’s going to make.”

Carter has proven time and time again that she can fill the boxscore in a number of ways, and with ringing endorsements from opposing coaches praising her as one of, if not the most difficult player to guard in college basketball, it will not be surprising if Texas A&M finds itself on the winning side of this situation next year with Carter leading the way.