Fayard Hits 1,000 Point Mark, Sets Sights on Playoffs

In Brief:

•Who: 🏀 Carson Fayard, Niceville High School junior

•What: 🎯 Reached 1,000 career basketball points and received a Division I scholarship offer

•When: 📅 During the 2024–2025 basketball season

•Where: 📍 Niceville, Florida, and Fort Walton Beach High School

•Why: 🌟 Fayard’s dedication and leadership have driven her success and inspired her team to aim for playoff victories

Carson Fayard is a nice person – she swears!

It’s just that, on the basketball court, Carson can be a little… intense, by her own admission.

“I would like people to know that Carson on the basketball court and Carson off the basketball court are completely different people. I promise, I’m really a nice person, “she said with a laugh.

Off the court, Carson is a friendly and slightly introverted figure – nothing unique in a junior class of about 500 at Niceville High School.

But, the ferocious intensity on the court sets her apart from many peers and competitors on the court.

Her head coach, Meghan Darhower, notes she doesn’t say much to Fayard once she’s on the court and in the game. She keeps it to adjustments and updates – no rah-rah talk for her during the 32 frenetic minutes on the court against rivals like Fort Walton Beach, Crestview, and the juggernaut squad over at Booker T. Washington High School in Pensacola.

But that intensity has led to 1,000 career points as a junior and almost 20 points per game – and a scholarship offer from Kentucky’s Morehead State University.

“It’s honestly so relieving, and it’s been my dream to [play college basketball] for a while. And to have an offer, it’s just like a – One part of it is done. Recruiting is such a hard process,” Fayard said.

She takes a lot of comfort in the advice her older brother – Maddox, a football player at the Naval Academy, gave her:

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“He’s taught me a lot – mainly that it all works out in the end. There is a purpose for everything and to just let go handle everything – and just stay calm,” Fayard remembers.

Back at the Eagle’s Nest, The junior got her 1,000th point in a tough loss to Fort Walton Beach High School. The loss stuck with her more than the record.

“To me, it’s not a big deal. It’s just a number. I’m looking more into the future. It is a big accomplishment, and I am so proud of myself, but I don’t want it to be a huge deal; I want us to focus on the season and get some more wins and have a good run in the playoffs.”

With a young team in tow – Maddie Miller is the only senior on the squad this year – Coach Darhower says this is the key moment in the program’s return to late-season competitiveness for this season – and a successful future.

“That’s the one thing that Carson is going to leave here – is that winning legacy,” said Niceville High School Head Girls Basketball Coach Meghan Darhower, “because, as of right now, she is one of the players who has been on the teams that have won the most. You know, Niceville was down for a little while. We just didn’t have any talent here or people who didn’t want to work hard for a while. That junior group [that includes Fayard] is setting the standard a lot higher.”

So far, the girls are 14-6 on the season, thanks to a three-game winning streak over Gulf Breeze, Rocky Bayou Christian School, and Pace.

The team has several regular season games, including a home contest on Friday, Jan. 24, against Booker T. Washington High School. They head into their district tournament the first week of February.

We also got a chance to talk to Niceville principal Charlie Marello about the accomplishment. He told us “Carson has been the key performer in Coach Darhower’s unbelievable rebuilding of the Lady Eagles basketball program,” Marello said, “I’m no basketball expert, but I have seen Carson play a lot of games these last three years. She can play any position on the court, play it very well, and defend. On top of that, she’s a great student and an exceptional person. I’m very, very proud of her, Coach Darhower and this accomplishment.”