Jessika Tyneisha Carter (born December 7, 1999) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for AZS Poznań of the

Basket Liga Kobiet Basket Liga Kobiet (BLK), officially known as the Orlen Basket Liga Kobiet (OBLK) due to its sponsorship by Orlen, is a professional women's club basketball league in Poland. It constitutes the first and highest-tier level of the Polish league p ...

. She was drafted by the

New York Liberty The New York Liberty are an American professional basketball team based in the Boroughs of New York City, New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Liberty compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Confer ...

in the

2024 WNBA draft The Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA)'s draft for the 2024 WNBA season, 2024 season, following the 2023–24 NCAA Division I women's basketball season, was held on April 15, 2024, the WNBA draft, 29th draft in WNBA history. The draf ...

. She played college basketball for the

Mississippi State Bulldogs Mississippi State Bulldogs is the name given to the college athletics, athletic teams of Mississippi State University, in Mississippi State, Mississippi. The university is a founding member of the Southeastern Conference and competes in NCAA D ...

Early life

Carter was born in

Waverly Hall, Georgia Waverly Hall is a town in Harris County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama metropolitan statistical area. The population was 638 in 2020. History A post office called Waverly was established in 1829. The commu ...

to Patrick Ransom and Angelia Carter-Ransom. She has one brother, Kenavez Bryd, and five sisters: Lvvie, Jhernie, Zi, Nyazjha, and Molly. She attended the Girls Inc. Baker Center in

South Columbus, Georgia South Columbus, sometimes called the southside, is a residential district of Columbus, Georgia, situated just south of the financial district of Downtown Columbus, Georgia, Downtown Columbus and north of Fort Benning, one of the largest United St ...

and considers it "home." Instead of attending the WNBA draft, she hosted a draft party there instead. She used to be a model. She attended and played basketball at Harris County High School in

Hamilton, Georgia Hamilton is a city in, and the county seat of Harris County, Georgia, United States. It is part of the Columbus, Georgia-Alabama metropolitan statistical area. The population was 1,680 at the 2020 census, up from 307 at the 2000 census. Hist ...

. Her head coach was Steffanie Ramsey. She was rated 49th best player in the nation in the Olson ratings. She was named GWSA All-State First Team in the 5A class in 2015.

College career

Throughout her career with the

Mississippi State University Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a Public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, Un ...

(MSU), she helped MSU become the first women's team to play in a First Four game and advance to the Second Round of the NCAA Tournament. She had 24 career games with at least 10 rebounds, and scored 20+ points in a game 14 times in her five years. She scored her 1,000th career point in December 2022, becoming the 28th member of the 1,000-point club at Mississippi State. She played under three head coaches:

Vic Schaefer Victor Ernest Schaefer (born March 2, 1961) is an American college basketball coach who is the head women's basketball coach of the University of Texas at Austin (Texas) Longhorns. He previously served as the head coach for Mississippi State, fr ...

, Nikki McCray-Penson, and Sam Purcell. During the 2018–19 season, in her first year, she ranked 11th in the

Southeastern Conference The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central United States, South Central and Southeastern United States. Its 16 members in ...

(SEC) in blocks per game with an average of 1.03. During the 2019–20 season, in her second year, she averaged 8.7 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 58.5% field goal scoring, and 11 double-doubles. Carter was named Second Team All-SEC and Duel in the Desert all-tournament honors. She was named SEC Player of the Week after the two games against the

Murray State Racers The Murray State Racers are the athletic teams that represent Murray State University (MSU), located in Murray, Kentucky, United States, in intercollegiate sports as a member of the NCAA Division I ranks (for football, the Football Championship ...

and the

Troy Trojans The Troy Trojans are the sports teams of Troy University. They began playing in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, NCAA's Division I (NCAA), Division I-A in 2001 in sports, 2001, became a American football, football only member of the ...

. During the 2020–21 season, in her junior year, she averaged 14.3 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks per game. She started in all 19 games for the MSU Bulldogs. She was a top-10 finalist for the Katrina McClain Award. She was a redshirt reserve for her senior year during the 2021–22 season, and didn't play in any games. During the 2022–23 season, she earned Second Team All-SEC honors and was named to the SEC All-Defensive Team. She played in 31 games and started in 30. She was named a finalist for the

Lisa Leslie Award The Lisa Leslie Award is an award presented annually to the best women's basketball center (basketball), center in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) NCAA Division I, Division I competition. It is named after Hall of Famer Lisa Le ...

, an award given to the nation's best center. She averaged a career best of 14.8 points per game and had a career-high 65 blocks and 42 assists. Carter played in four NCAA Tournament games, one in the 2018–19 season and three in the 2022–23 season. In the Tournament games, she averaged 11 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks per game. She had a 56% shot rate from the floor and a 78% shot rate from the free throw line. After five seasons at MSU, she finished as the program's all-time leader in games played and sixth in points scored, with 1,750 points total. She also ranked second in rebounds with 1,120 total rebounds, and third in blocks with 238. In 2024, she won the Gillom Trophy, which recognizes the best women's basketball player in the state of Mississippi. She declared for the WNBA draft in April 2024. Her then-head coach Sam Purcell described her as "a great player, nda phenomenal person and role model." At MSU, she majored in

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, Biomechanics, biomechanical, Pathology, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kines ...

Professional career

WNBA

Carter was drafted in the second round, 23rd overall, by the

in the

. She was the ninth player from Mississippi State to be drafted to the WNBA. On May 11, 2024, she was waived by the Liberty. On June 16, 2024, she was signed by the

Las Vegas Aces The Las Vegas Aces are an American professional basketball team based in the Las Vegas metropolitan area. The Aces compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Western Conference. The team plays its home game ...

. She appeared in two games for the Aces before being waived on June 30, 2024. On April 17, 2025, Carter signed a training camp contract with the

Chicago Sky The Chicago Sky are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Sky compete in the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA) as a member of the Eastern Conference. The franchise was founded prior to the 2006 season. Th ...

. On May 11, she was waived by the Sky.

Overseas

Carter signed with AZS Poznań of the

for the 2024–25 season. In April 2025, she signed a one-year extension with AZS.

National team career

She was on the USA Team for the 2019 World University Games, helping the team win a silver medal at the event. She averaged 11.7 points, 8.4 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks per game. She had 3.7 offensive rebounds per game.

Career statistics

WNBA

Regular season

''Stats current through end of 2024 season'' , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

, 2 , , 0 , , 2.0 , , .000 , , — , , .000 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", 1 year, 1 team , 2 , , 0 , , 2.0 , , .000 , , — , , .000 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , , 0.0

College

, - , style="text-align:left;" , 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;" ,

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university in Mississippi State, Mississippi, United States. It is classified among "R ...

, 36, , 0, , 10.9, , 49.5, , 0.0, , 52.4, , 3.1, , 0.2, , 0.2, , 0.9, , 0.6, , 3.2 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 33, , 33, , 28.8, , 58.5, , 0.0, , 71.1, , 8.7, , 0.4, , 0.7, , 1.8, , 1.5, , 13.0 , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, 19, , 19, , 26.3, , 50.2, , 0.0, , 66.7, , 8.7, , 0.8, , 0.3, , 1.4, , 1.4, , 14.3 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, style="text-align:center;"colspan="12" , ''Did not play due to injury'' , - , style="text-align:left;" ,

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, style="text-align:left;" ,

, 31, , 30, , 27.5, , 57.0, , 0.0, , 61.2, , 7.7, , 1.4, , 0.6, , 2.1, , 2.8, , 14.8 , - , style="text-align:left;" , 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;" ,

, 32, , 31, , 31.4, , 52.8, , 0.0, , 68.2, , 9.9, , 1.1, , 0.7, , 1.7, , 2.4, , 14.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2 , Career , 151, , 113, , 24.5, , 54.4, , 0.0, , 65.4, , 7.4, , 0.8, , 0.5, , 1.6, , 1.7, , 11.6

Personal life

In July 2021, Carter

attempted suicide A suicide attempt is an act in which an individual tries to kill themselves but survives. Mental health professionals discourage describing suicide attempts as "failed" or "unsuccessful", as doing so may imply that a suicide resulting in death is ...

, suffered from liver damage, and was subsequently treated at a hospital for the following week. In September, she was arrested for an altercation involving another woman, where she was charged with simple assault. She was released on a $500 bond. The day after Thanksgiving, she attempted suicide a second time, and was admitted into treatment at a hospital again. After the two attempts, she spoke out on social media acknowledging her friends and family for "checking on erand helping erget out of a very dark space." Carter is currently a

graduate student Postgraduate education, graduate education, or graduate school consists of Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications usually pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have ...

at Mississippi State University.

References

External links

Mississippi State Bulldogs bio

Jessika Carter – ESPN
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Carter, Jessika 1999 births Living people People from Harris County, Georgia American women's basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Poland Basketball players from Georgia (U.S. state) Centers (basketball) Las Vegas Aces players Mississippi State Bulldogs athletes New York Liberty draft picks New York Liberty players 21st-century American sportswomen