Carroll girls’ basketball star Emily Parrett recently committed to play college basketball locally. She will go to University of Saint Francis. She announced her commitment via Twitter on Friday.
“I’m very excited for her for two reasons; [reason number] one: the hard work she’s put in over the years has paid off, and [reason number] two: just because I think being local, I think it’s given her an opportunity to have her fans and family continue watching her play here in Fort Wayne and help Saint Francis get back on board,” Carroll head coach Mark Redding said.
Saint Francis had what Parrett was looking for when it came to both basketball and academics. When it comes to academics, the school had the major she was looking for.
“I’m looking to do Pre-PA (Pre-Physicians Assistant Studies) and get my graduate degree and go from there,” Parrett said.
When it came to basketball, Parrett was excited to play for Coach Ridge. She especially appreciated the energy level he coached at. The Cougars have seen steady improvement under Ridge. They won 20 games last season and won 23 games this season.
“They’re a smaller school, and they’ve been doing really well recently which I think is awesome, and I think the reason is because of Coach Ridge,” Parrett said. “He’s an amazing coach, and I went to one of their games, and he just looked so involved in the game.”
During her high school career, Parrett was coached by another successful head coach. Mark Redding has led Carroll to four sectional titles in a row (five total). He also led Elmhurst to a state title in 2009.
“He knows the game really well,” Parrett said. “He knows how to get everybody to understand how to be a team. It’s just a really great experience, especially with the girls that we have. We’re able to go, and we’re able to play and have fun. So it’s just an awesome experience.”
Parrett is used to playing the guard position. This year, she has played multiple positions for the Chargers. She expects to primarily play as a guard at St. Francis.
“I feel like I’m more comfortable at that, and I still did that for Carroll a little bit this year, just not as much as I normally do.” Parrett said.
Parrett has played varsity basketball since her freshman year. This year, she was the Chargers’ leading scorer (11.0 points per game) and leading rebounder (4.7 per game). Since she is a junior, she has one more season of basketball left at Carroll.
“I’m always excited to get players like Emily [back], being able to coach them, especially with her making that decision [of where to go to college],” Redding said. “It takes the pressure off. Now she can really enjoy the year. But last year, when she was hurt, even though she could not participate in practice, she was there at practice every day helping the younger kids,…helping them read defense, helping them understand our defensive philosophy, how to play on the offensive end, what to recognize, and stuff like that.”
Redding’s advice to Parrett as she gets closer to college, would be to continue to improve and to enjoy her final year of high school basketball.
“I would just tell her that I think the pressure is off her, and now she can just enjoy her senior year and just have fun and not worry about what’s going to happen next year, that’s all said and done,” Redding said. “I think what she needs to do is keep working on her game, and get stronger so that she can be an impact player for Saint Francis in the next couple of years.”
