Vanessa Carrera has been a starter for three seasons.
She has picked up significant experience along the way.
But the Morton senior forward has a desire to continue growing.
“I’m just working harder,” Carrera said. “I want to learn. I want to learn a lot.”
Carrera said she believes she’s adding knowledge under first-year Morton coach JaMesha Harris, a former assistant at Bowman. The 2007 Merrillville graduate played at what was then Purdue Calumet and also was an assistant at Lighthouse early in her career.
“It’s a different perspective of the sport,” Carrera said. “It’s making me play better and making the team play better.”
Carrera was averaging a team-high 15.7 points for the Governors (7-10), who had already eclipsed their five wins from last season heading into a game against Highland on Wednesday. She has been more consistent than in past seasons.
“My mentality is way better,” she said. “I have more confidence. I’ve kept working on my dribbling, kept working on my moves. I’ve been working on my assists to help my team score.”
Last season was one of transition for Carrera. She moved to Morton after Gavit closed and wasn’t sure what to expect.
“At first I was nervous to even play a sport,” she said. “I didn’t know the people here. But I just went for it. I was the only one from Gavit who kept playing — the only one. It was difficult. But I love the sport, and I wanted to keep playing.”
Harris has gained a lot of respect for Carrera, who is also a setter on the volleyball team, in a relatively brief period.
“I wish I had more time with her,” Harris said. “She has a big role on this team. She’s definitely one of the hardest-working people, one of the toughest ones I’ve met around in this area.
“She’s a great 3-point shooter, she gets steals. If she hits that ground, I know for sure she’ll get back up.”
Carrera is one of the team’s captains along with classmates Lania Fleming and Heaven Clopton. Carrera takes that responsibility seriously.
“I communicate a lot,” she said. “I make sure everyone’s on point, make sure their heads aren’t down, just be together on the court.
“We don’t really argue. There’s a lot of team bonding and unity and communication. We work well together.”
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Morton’s most recent win was a 59-57 victory against Hobart on Jan. 3. That was among the highlights of the Governors’ season.
“That win really sparked us,” Harris said. “We played hard and competed. We wanted that ‘W’ really bad. The team is starting to jell. We’ve had our ups and downs, and it’s been a fun learning experience.
“The girls tend to want to contest everything you say, but at the end of the day, they do what I ask them to do and compete as hard as they can. All I can ask them to do is try. I want to show them they’re better than previous seasons, and I think they’re starting to realize that. It’s getting late in the season, and I wish they would’ve realized that a long time ago. But I really, really see the improvement from day one of conditioning to right now.”
Carrera, who scored 23 points against Hobart, has seen it.
“We’ve come a long way, and I want us to keep going,” she said. “I just want to keep the team happy. I’m having fun, and I want all of these seniors to have a good season, a nice season. I want everybody to be happy.”