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“It’s a big adrenaline rush when you go up the court,” said Howard junior Alexis Carter on why she likes playing basketball.
BALTIMORE (Map, News) - Alexis Carter doesn’t have time to worry about her hair or nails when she’s driving down the lane for a layup.
Carter, a 16-year-old junior at Howard High, played guard for the Lions’ basketball team, which recently completed its season. She also reached the semifinals of the 2006 Miss Maryland Teen USA competition, held last November in North Bethesda.
“People at the beauty pageants I compete in don’t think I look like a basketball player,” she said.
Before her family moved to Maryland last year, Carter attended Ridgeview High in South Carolina, where she received the Most Improved Player Award for her efforts in basketball. This season, she averaged about five points per game for Howard.
“I’ve been playing basketball since the fourth grade,” Carter said. “My dad is the person who really got me into the sport.”
Although the Lions didn’t have a very strong season, Carter has no time to dwell on it. She is already practicing with the track team for the spring season.
Besides her athletic endeavors and beauty pageants, Carter is an active member of her community. She is a Girl Scout, a member of Black Students Achievement Program and the third vice president of the NAACP Youth Council of Howard County.
“With the NAACP, we go into less-fortunate areas and have events in hopes of improving the community and educating people about the hardship in those areas,” Carter said.
Despite all her extracurricular activities, Carter still maintains a 3.62 grade-point average and is a member of the National Honor Society for High School Scholars and the Advanced Placement Scholars program.
“I am hard-working and determined to reach any goal I set for myself,” Carter said.
After graduation, she hopes to major in psychology at Florida State University, where her brother, Tony, currently starts at cornerback for the football team. Her father also played basketball for the Seminoles.
“Going to Florida State is kind of a family tradition for me,” she said.
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