After doubling the victory total from a year ago, Devan Carter has been named the head women’s basketball coach at Tusculum College announced interim athletic director Doug Jones.
Carter who was named the interim coach earlier this season, has led the Pioneers to a 12-12 overall record, including a 10-11 South Atlantic Conference worksheet entering Saturday’s regular-season finale against Queens University of Charlotte. Saturday’s game will tip-off at 2 p.m. at Pioneer Arena on the Greeneville campus.
Tusculum is currently tied for the eighth and final spot to qualify for next week’s SAC Basketball Championship Tournament. The Pioneers own a 4-2 record against teams currently ranked in the NCAA Division II Southeast Region poll.
Tusculum has failed to qualify for the SAC postseason in each of the last two seasons, including last year as the Pioneers tied for 10th place on the conference and finished with a 6-19 overall record (6-16 in SAC).
“I am very proud of the job Coach Carter has done with our women’s program this year. He and our student-athletes have worked tirelessly in improving the program. Tusculum women’s basketball has a rich and storied history, which I have every confidence Coach Carter will build upon in the years to come,” said Jones. “Devan is an outstanding person and his work ethic, attitude and passion for success are the qualities we want for our women’s program.”
Carter has mentored the improved play of senior guard and SAC Player of the Year candidate Shynese Whitener. Whitener, a native of Newton, North Carolina, leads the league in scoring, averaging 18.1 points per game. She is also tops in the conference in steals per game (9.3 spg) and became the 16th member of Tusculum’s 1,000-point club. Whitener has scored 1,202 career points which are the 13th most in program history. She is also listed in the Tusculum top-10 in career field goals made (473 – 9th), field goal attempts (1195 – 8th), free throw percentage (.785 – 10th), career assists (283 – 9th) and career steals (212).
Also contributing to the Tusculum turnaround is the Greensboro, North Carolina freshmen duo of Kasey Johnson and Sydney Wilson. Johnson, a 6-0 forward, leads the team in field goal percentage (51.8% – 3rd in SAC) and second in scoring (11.8 – 19th in SAC). Wilson is third on the squad averaging 10.6 points per game (25th in SAC) in her rookie campaign.
Senior forward Kristen McMillion continues to be a force on the glass as the Fayetteville, North Carolina product leads the team in rebounding. Her 8.2 boards per game average is fourth in the South Atlantic Conference while her 1.4 blocked shots per game are fifth in the league. McMillion has amassed 886 career rebounds, which are the fourth-most in program history. Her 103 career blocked shots are the sixth in the Tusculum record book.
“I’m very appreciative to our President, Dr. Nancy Moody and Coach Doug Jones, for their continued trust and support in allowing me lead our women’s basketball program,” said Carter. “We have a very special group of young ladies and I am honored to be their coach. We are committed to making our Tusculum family and the Greeneville community proud of our program.”
Carter arrived on the Tusculum campus three years ago and has served as the associate head coach for the Pioneer men’s basketball program.
Prior to his arrival at Tusculum, Carter served two seasons at Hargrave Military Academy as an assistant coach. While at the Chatham, Virginia prep school, he worked to enhance the individual development of guards and post players. He served as the program’s operations specialist and handled the recruiting data base, film coordination and maintained the team’s web site. Carter supervised players’ campus activities and facilitated and organized community service projects.
While on the coaching staff at Hargrave Military Academy, he assisted in the recruitment and coaching of several collegiate players including: Montreazl Harrell (Louisville), Codi Miller-McIntyre (Wake Forest), Corey Heyward (Georgia Tech), Charles Buggs (Minnesota), Terry Rozier (Louisville), Anton Gill (Louisville), Greg McClinton (Wake Forest), Neville Fincher (Kansas State), and Donte Clark (Massachusetts).
Carter, a native of Cascade, Virginia, was a four-year letterman and three-year starter at NCAA Division I Elon University. He was instrumental to the major turnaround in the Elon basketball program starting in the Southern Conference championship game against nationally ranked Davidson College in Elon’s first nationally televised game on ESPN.
He played one season at Hargrave Military Academy prior to Elon during the 2005-06 season. He was a McDonald’s All-American nominee at Morehead High School in Eden, North Carolina and played in the prestigious North Carolina East-West All-Star Game. He was named to the Greensboro News and Record All-Area first team and the All-Northwest Region team as a senior. He also garnered All-Conference accolades three times and was a two-time team MVP, establishing the Morehead High School single-game scoring record with 48 points.
Following Elon, he briefly played professionally in Europe, touring Ireland, Finland and the United Kingdom.
He earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from Elon in 2010. He was the 2010 recipient of the Phillips Excellence Award for Academics and the Dewey Andrews Scholarship, both from Elon.
http://www.tusculumpioneers.com/article.asp?articleID=5987
Photo Courtesy Tusculum Athletics
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