Philadelphia native Denae Carter sat on the bench every evening, waiting for her older sister’s basketball practice to be over. With their mom working at night, Carter had no choice but to be on the sidelines.

At eight years old, the coach finally asked if she wanted to play. The coach brought her to the other side of the gym, and Carter was set to practice with the third grade team.

“I didn’t know anything about basketball, and I was terrified,” Carter said. “He walked me over there, and they let me practice with them even though they had no idea who I was that day.”

The six-foot senior forward later attended St. Basil Academy and graduated in 2021. Although SBA has since shut its doors, Carter still holds the title of the school’s all-time leading scorer. Since the school closed after her senior year, the administration was unable to make a banner for her accomplishments.

Several of her high school teammates were from middle school and AAU teams. They became her sisters, although Carter already had five of her own. In sixth grade, she was the only girl on an all-boys middle school team. Along with the help of friends and family, players fought to create an all girls middle school team, and were successful.

Carter went on to win four conference championships for the Athletic Association of Catholic Academies (AACA). She led SBA to a 24-3 record in her final season.

“​​I still talk to most of them today,” Carter said about her former teammates. “It really started as this small little interaction, but I’ve known those girls my whole life now.”

When the college recruitment process began in the middle of COVID-19, Carter and many of her peers were unable to make official visits to campuses. She remembers having countless phone calls and Zoom meetings with coaches, players, and team staff for several potential schools.

Carter was able to get in contact with a former Olympian, WNBA player and staff member at Old Dominion women’s basketball: Nicki McCray-Penson. McCray-Penson connected with Carter and when McCray-Penson took over the head coaching position at Mississippi State, she recruited Carter, who joined the team in Starkville, MS. She had many coaches during her two years there.

“It was just really hard for me because there seemed to be no stability,” Carter said. “I didn’t know how it would affect playing time, I didn’t know how it would affect my experience there, and then not having my family there was the hardest part.”

A two-time SEC freshman of the week, Carter averaged six points per game her rookie year

and had a team-high four double-doubles.

The next year at Mississippi State, Carter’s season ended, after she tore her right ACL. Following her surgery, one of her sisters stayed with her in Mississippi for two weeks to aid in the initial post-op recovery. Once

the two weeks passed, Carter had to attend every doctor’s appointment, class, and practice by herself, without the support of her family.

  During that time, she realized that proximity to her family was her biggest priority. She entered the transfer portal before her junior year, and Villanova women’s basketball head coach Denise Dillon convinced her to come to ‘Nova. Dillon had recruited Carter prior to her choosing Mississippi State.

“We kinda, um, stayed in touch with things in a line here at Nova,” Dillon said. “It really gave her an opportunity to acclimate herself, transition in, have an understanding of what Villanova was about as a community and the team when she’s healthy and recovered.”

Just a half hour from her house, Villanova was the perfect place for Carter to continue her ACL recovery and athletic journey. Many of her teammates at Villanova grew up playing against or with Carter in AAU basketball in Philly. Former and current teammates, including Ryanne Allen, Zanai Jones and Kaitlyn Orihel are players she knew prior to joining Nova Nation.

“It was a lot of like connections, a lot of familiar faces coming back here,” Carter said. “[Allen] and I have been playing against each other since we were  eight.”

Dillon and the rest of the women’s basketball support staff, as well as the sports medicine team, played significant roles in Carter’s recovery. She was closer to her family, had a close bond of teammates, and finally felt supported both academically and athletically.

“Danae really understood the competitiveness of… wanting to be the best in Philly and leading her team the last couple of years,” Dillon said. “We had breakfast the day she made the decision to come to Villanova, and there were tears in her dad’s eyes. [Her family] was at every game.”

At the beginning of her junior year, Carter tore her ACL again, this time in the left leg.

“You’ve done it once, you could do it again,” Carter said. “There are days where you could lift your leg and then the next day you can’t even get it off the ground. That kind of mental strength was definitely the hardest part the second time around.”

Entering her senior year, Carter was fully healthy. She felt confident in her play and hopeful for the team’s future. However, she was unsure of her leadership capabilities. After all, she sat out her entire junior year, but it gave her a new perspective on how she views the game.

Carter’s new knowledge made her the perfect role model that her younger teammates to look up to.

“I think we all really loved each other and loved working hard together,” Carter said. “It made it I think people were able to see that on the court. We love celebrating each other’s small accomplishments.”

In her final basketball season, Carter started in all 35 games and averaged nearly nine points per game. The team’s camaraderie both on and off the court returned the ‘Cats to March Madness for the first time in three years.