In high school, Chrislyn Carr’s speed was the first thing that separated her from other athletes her age, Carr said. She joined the Davenport West (Iowa) High School basketball team after running the 100-meter dash in middle school — something that her coaches and teammates knew widened her abilities as a player.

Carr’s speed — which former Texas Tech head coach Marlene Stollings refers to as her “God-given talent” — allowed her to draw a foul on Iowa State’s Rae Johnson while Carr was playing for the Red Raiders. With the game tied against the Cyclones, Carr juked Johnson, forcing the foul call on a 3-point attempt, and Carr drained the ensuing three free throws to seal the game.

“Just being able to go past everybody to make the right play,” Carr said of how important her speed is. “It’s always easier to direct and do so many things on the court.”

Carr is now at her third college, Syracuse, after attending two different high schools. Despite the constant change of location that’s defined her career, she’s let her speed carry her to a multitude of accolades, including scoring over 2,000 points in high school and receiving an All-Big 12 honorable mention her sophomore year.

Her speed is the different gear that put her on Rock Island (Illinois) head coach Henry Hall’s radar while Carr played for Davenport High School. Carr transferred hoping to receive better looks from the Amateur Athletic Union and college programs, but Hall remembers her for a game that she dominated against his team.

Anything Hall tried to do — double teaming, switching zone defenses — didn’t work against Carr. She took over the game and beat Rock Island single handedly, Hall said. It amazed him how much pace she played with, how she could dribble and stop on a dime then restart and explode into another gear. The way the ball looked like it was “on a string” when she dribbled came from someplace other than coaching, Hall said.

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After her first basketball tournament, Carr’s father and her brother, CJ, knew she had the talent to play at a high level. The pair watched Carr score in bunches and get physical with players who were two years older than her.

That tournament planted the seeds of Carr’s coach-like leadership on the court, an “extension of the extension of the head coach on the floor.” Stollings would explain her vision for a certain play to Carr, then sit back with her arms folded on the Texas Tech sideline and watch as her plans played out.

Carr could see the flow of the game better than anyone on the court, Hall said. Coaches didn’t need to tell her how to change the pace — she would speed up if the defense was lacking on transition or slow down if the game was becoming too fast.

Stollings said Carr hit an unlucky streak, one where coaches leave after her arrival. Shimmy Gray-Miller recruited Carr to Texas Tech, then she was fired in favor of Stollings. After Carr’s two years at Texas Tech, Stollings was fired, and Carr went to Baylor to play under Kim Mulkey, who left after one year to take the job at LSU. Looking for a change of scenery, Carr chose Syracuse just months before Quentin Hillsman resigned.

“I’d describe her as resilient,” Stollings said. “I think she’s the epitome of that. A lot of kids would have probably thrown in the towel and been over it.”

At Texas Tech, Stollings said Carr was the fastest player in the Big 12. She had never seen that sort of baseline-to-baseline speed before, which boded well with the style of play that the Red Raiders carried to an 18-win season in 2019-20. Under acting head coach Vonn Read, who Stollings referred to as an offensive expert, Carr’s game can flourish. Allowing Carr to glide across the court in a wide-open offense made her the Big 12 freshman of the year at Texas Tech.

“I’m definitely an up-tempo player,” Carr said. “I like doing cool passes … cool moves to get to the basket.”

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Carr’s speed allows her to score at all three levels, Stollings said. Stollings had four or five go-to plays that the coaching staff could call for Carr to score. There was no question she’d get it done — the only question was whether or not the Red Raiders needed a 2- or 3-pointer. In some cases, Texas Tech utilized her speed to draw defenders away from other players beyond the arc, opening up passing options that Carr would easily exploit.

In high school, Hall ran high-ball screens. With two teammates in their respective corners, Carr would come off a screen at the top of the key and plan how to attack. If the bigger player switched on to Carr, she’d easily speed past them for a layup. If the defender went under the screen, Carr shot from long range.

“Either way, that was unstoppable,” Hall said. “If we needed a bucket, we would usually go to that.”

Carr’s speed allows her to play at a high level defensively. CJ’s favorite aspect of Carr’s game was watching her keep up with Division I guards throughout her time at Texas Tech and Baylor.

Her speed allows her to elevate the play of her teammates, too. In her sophomore year at Texas Tech, Carr had 13 assists during a 30-point blowout win against Oklahoma State.

“It’s just one of those things where you kind of get caught in awe of what she is and the things that she can do,” Hall said.

Published on November 8, 2021 at 1:22 am

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt