By DAVID VANTRESS

For the Northwest News

FORT WAYNE — The Carroll High School girls basketball team will have some experienced girls back on the court this season as the Chargers look to challenge for a Sectional 4A-5 championship.

Longtime coach Mark Redding is in his 11th season at Carroll, and 28th season overall. He’s 154-86 at Carroll (348-258 overall).

Taylor Fordyce, a senior combo guard, is back and will serve as one of the Chargers’ co-captains. Fordyce averaged 15.6 ppg and 5.5 rpg last season. Senior guard Kayla Gibbs also returns: She averaged 11.6 ppg and 3.7 rpg in 2021-22. She’ll also be a co-captain.

Both Fordyce and Gibbs earned all-SAC honors a year ago.

Joining Fordyce and Gibbs as co-captains will be sophomore guard Jersey Paul, who averaged 4.1 ppg, 1.6 rpg and 1.0 apg a year ago. She’s the daughter of former Purdue-Fort Wayne women’s basketball coach and former Churubusco boys basketball coach Chris Paul.

Fordyce said being more aggressive on defense should help the Chargers win more games this season. “We’re working on pressuring more, and on offense, being patient and sharing the ball more,” she said.

Gibbs said communication will be key. “We want to win our sectional this year,” Gibbs added.

Paul, meanwhile, said she and her teammates want to play fast. “We want to get a lot of steals on defense,” Paul said.

Redding said the Chargers will lean on the three co-captains quite a bit. “They’re going to help our younger players a lot with their basketball IQ,” she said.

All three guards can both shoot and play the point, Redding said. Fordyce and Gibbs are both four-year varsity players.

The Chargers will be substituting often to keep fresh energy on the court, Redding said. “We’re going to play full-court pressure, be in your face, wear people down,” she said.

The Chargers have 15 players across both the JV and varsity levels, Redding said, and some of the girls who play on the JV will see significant varsity time as well. Redding said. A freshman squad will play a limited freshman schedule.

Other key players for the Chargers this season will include Carma Bryant, a junior transfer from Canterbury, and freshmen Ava Myers and Bailey Sinish, daughter of Carroll volleyball coach Pandy Sinish.

Carroll was 14-9 a year ago and fell to Snider in the Class 4A sectional semifinals, breaking a string of five straight sectional titles. The Chargers were 25-3 in 2020-21 and made it to semistate before losing to Crown Point.

The Chargers open the 2022-23 season Saturday night at home against Columbia City.