Athlete of the Week: Merrimack's Rachael Carter

It’s never been about the points for Rachael Carter.

That didn’t stop the Merrimack High School senior from scoring them, and in a win over Spaulding last Tuesday, Carter reached a milestone only few high school basketball players do.

Carter scored her 1,000^th career point early on in a 58-44 win over the Red Raiders and finished the game with 26 points. She added another 24 points in a 48-46 overtime win Manchester Memorial last Friday, the Tomahawks biggest win to date. For her efforts, Carter was selected as NH-HighSchoolSports.com’s Athlete of the Week.

“It was very exciting,” Carter said. “The girls helped me out and coach (Amy Larkin-Perez) has always been behind me, saying ‘you’re going to get it.’ ”

The basket came right at the end of the first quarter against Spaulding. With time running out, Carter found herself on a fast break and dropped in a layup to go over a thousand.

But as much as the mark says about Carter’s high school career, she admits that was never something she set out to achieve.

“It’s not the only thing I was about,” she said. “It wasn’t like ‘I’m going to score 1,000 points.’ It just came naturally and it wasn’t the biggest thing I was worried about. We wanted to win, so I put it behind me until after the game.”

That attitude has helped Merrimack (8-7) through a solid season, the first as head coach for Larkin-Perez.

“This team as a whole is every coach’s dream,” the coach said. “They’re just very coachable girls and have a positive attitude and are supportive of one another. My favorite quote from ‘Remember the Titans’ is ‘attitude reflects leadership’ and that has a lot to do with our leaders on the team and Rachael is one of them.”

While Carter plays other sports, she grew up playing basketball with her older brothers.

“They were older brothers, so I wanted to try to play with them,” she said. “It’s just my favorite sport and I enjoy it a lot more (than others).”

Hearing that makes Larkin-Perez happy.

“I’m grateful to have someone like her,” she said. “The initiative she’s taken, helping out her teammates with their shots and their form and just being a positive role model on the court. She’s always picking her teammates up.

“It’s not just her. There’s a bright future for Merrimack, even with the transition of coaches over the last few years. I haven’t quite put my touch on it yet, but there’s a bright future ahead because of girls like that.”