Carter’s Court

The playing styles alone of Julanie and Maleika Carter would not lend an observer any reason to believe the two are sisters.

Julanie is the Iowa Community College Athletic Conference’s leading scorer, prone to erupt from beyond the arc or slash her way to driving buckets and leaners off the glass.

Maleika is the pass-first defensive stalwart who earns her time on the hardwood directing traffic and performing with a gritty demeanor. She’ll work her way to the rack from time-to-time.

It has basically always been this way.

Ever since starting in Upward church league basketball growing up in Des Moines, the two have played ball together, with few exceptions.

“We always outshined the other players,” Maleika said.

Spartan sophomore Demir Alford has played with the girls in some capacity almost every year since fourth grade.

“It’s always been like that. Lanie’s a shooter, Leika’s always been a point guard,” Alford said. “She’s always been the leading point guard for every team that we’ve played with. Lanie’s always been the leading scorer for every team that we’ve played with.”

Julanie has always been a scorer, but didn’t really start filling up the basket from deep until high school.

“I kind of always have been a shooter, but before my freshman year I only took one three,” Julanie said. “Before that I didn’t really shoot threes. It kind of came out of nowhere.”

Maleika has always taken a different approach to the game than her sister.

“I just never really liked shooting,” Maleika said. “Usually everybody’s taller than me; I don’t really have a clear view. So I’m kind of quick, I always just dribble. She (Lanie) just started practicing shooting one time and she got really good at it.”

Alford went to a different middle school, but with the three still fast friends, the trio’s parents came together to decide to send them to Roosevelt High School in Des Moines together.

The three garnered their fair share of attention as athletes at Roosevelt, but even with Julanie being the de facto star of the current roster of Spartans, she wasn’t who Southwestern coach Addae Houston was originally after.

Making the trek southwest

Houston originally had his sights set on Maleika. She fit the mold that Houston had in mind for a point guard to help quicken the turnaround underway at Southwestern.

The Spartans went winless the year before Houston became coach. His first year at the helm was the 2012-2013 season.

With Houston in the mold, the program made slow progress.

Houston saw Maleika and Alford play for Roosevelt in a game at Ottumwa their senior season and began recruiting them, thinking them both good fits for his system.

Who he didn’t see was Julanie. A falling out with former Roosevelt coach Chris Cundiff, who has since resigned, led Julanie to quit basketball her senior year.

For the Carters, the only other option they considered was Marshalltown. Their brother of the same age, Jamel Carter — yes, they’re triplets — was at one point on the Southeastern men’s basketball team.

Once Houston saw Julanie play pick-up basketball, he knew he also had to have her on his team.

“We needed somebody who was a point guard who could manage and execute our offense, play tough defense, and then have somebody on the outside like Lanie who could really help us and build up our scoring,” Houston said.

Alford was on board first. A visit to campus helped confirm the selection for the Carters.

“The biggest attraction was the dorms. They’re really nice,” Maleika said with a laugh. “We like Addae. He’s really cool. He knows what he’s talking about.”

Couple that reasoning with the ability of family to come to games throughout ICCAC play — an opportunity family members have taken full advantage of — and the Carters were set to go.

“I don’t think they have missed many of our games,” Julanie said.

Spartan success

In the two years that the Carters have been in Creston, the improvement of the Spartans has been immediate.

The duo combined to play 45-plus minutes per game last season, and Alford was on the court for about half of the action.

In Houston’s first year as head coach, Southwestern scored 48.9 points per game in a five-win season. Two years later in the Carters’ first season, the Spartans won 10 games and averaged 61.1 per game.

“They were both helping each other build their stats,” Houston said. “They’re two different types of players. Leika brings a lot of fire and grit to the team from a defensive standpoint and then just a leadership standpoint and running and executing our offense and trying to be a point guard on the floor. Lanie, obviously being a threat from the outside, driving, etc., those things that she can do, she brings a big-time scoring threat. So they both have fit well.”

In the 2016-2017 season, Southwestern has its best record going back to 2002-2003 (16-13 as of March 2). The team is scoring 64.9 per game, and is connecting on 9.6 3-pointers per game, fourth best in NJCAA Division II, and is led by Julanie’s 83 made treys, good for fifth in NJCAA Division II. Julanie’s 18.0 points per game leads the ICCAC.

Maleika’s 2.9 assists per game lead the team.

The two push one another on the court constantly. When Julanie and Maleika came to SWCC, Houston wondered if the two pushed each other too much.

“I do try to tell them ‘Hey, we can’t take it too far,’ “ Houston said. “We still have to make sure we have a level of respect for one another, but the things that they can say to each other is different from the things that other people can say to each other because they‘ve always said those things and talk to each other.”

Their “sisterly love” never gets in the way, whereas other teams might be shocked by the things the Carters say to each other on the court.

“So if one of them starts to get on the other one, I do know at the end of the day, at the least, that there will not be problems with those two,” Houston said. “I can respect that if they do get on one another, at the end of the day it’ll be over.”

Houston noted that sometimes, the sisters need to give each other a swift “kick in the butt.” The two know it can be an issue, but they hold each other accountable.

Time nearing an end?

“It’s going to be weird if we ever play separate,” Julanie said. “We’ve never really done that except for like one or two years.”

Julanie knows that she definitely sees more basketball in her future.

“I haven’t decided,” Maleika said. “If I do play, then I do want to go to the same school.”

Two years of Carters on their squad could be of benefit to some team in the near future.

Alford could by some chance even join along, but she has battled knee injuries since high school.

Being able to finish out this season with her friends, after missing time at the start of the season with a torn meniscus, has driven Alford.

“It’s definitely a motivator,” Alford said. “That’s why I’m waiting until after the season to get surgery because I’m not sure if I want this to be my last year or if I’m going to continue on.

“Definitely want to finish out playing with these two.”

It’s fair to say, the Spartans have taken the next step largely due to the play of the trio.

“It’s definitely encouraging for our program,” Houston said. “It’s encouraging for future recruits that we talk to about how far we’ve come and then just overall just a little respect in the league from other teams and coaches from what we’re doing here right now. It’s pretty tremendous in my eyes, and my opinion, how far we’ve come.”

As for the Carters, they will look to prolong their time as Spartans as long as they can. A regular season game remains, and tournament play will start on the road soon.

No matter where the Carters end up, rest assured they will be in each other’s court for some time to come.