Kaelyn Carroll and her mom, Sue, have played countless games of H.O.R.S.E. and P.I.G. in the driveway. But as Carroll grew up, Sue, a former college basketball player at New Hampshire, had to institute a rule.
“She wasn’t allowed to do any of the fancy dribbling — between the legs, behind the back, any of the tricks,” Sue said. “That wasn’t fair.”
Carroll (Dedham, Mass.) has blown away her mom, and anyone else who watches, with her combination of guard-like handle and sweet shooting. The 6-foot-3 rising senior at Tabor will casually step back and bury 3-pointers, cross over into a hard-charging drive, or spin around opponents for layups. Carroll models much of her game after New York Liberty superstar Breanna Stewart, and at times her versatility evokes shades of the two-time WNBA MVP.
Carroll is ranked No. 29 in the Class of 2025 by ESPN, the highest-ranked player in New England, and has more than 40 Division 1 scholarship offers.
Her work to reach her stature has often come behind the scenes. She’s always been tall; Carroll is now the tallest of her family, including her 6-foot-1 father Ed, 6-foot-2 brother EJ, Sue, who’s 6-feet. Sue recalls Carroll hanging on the rims of youth hoops brought out for kindergarten gym class. By second grade, she was playing two years up on local Metro West teams, and by the end of third grade she had joined the Bay State Jaguars AAU program.
The Jaguars stamped ball-handling into their players early, but Carroll picked up skills especially quick for her size.
“[She] had great length, was very athletic and coordinated,” Jaguars director Laurie Bollin said. “You could just see, even at that age, how special she was gonna be. There's a lot of kids that have talent, but not everyone loves it, and not everyone is willing to work really hard, and have parents that trust the process and are patient.”
Carroll considers the first year of COVID-19 pandemic her biggest growth period. She would position her laptop on a trash can, hop on a Zoom call with her coaches, and have them drill her in her driveway. She wore training goggles that shielded her eyes from seeing the ground below, and wrapped her basketball in a trash bag so she could master her dribble.
Almost every morning, Carroll is in the gym. She averages between 100 and 200 shots per day outside of practice and is a big proponent of slowing things down and focusing on details.
“I think it's good to just focus on form shooting — not doing anything crazy, just kind of really locking in on my form, because that's my shot every time,” Carroll said.
In eighth grade, Carroll got her first scholarship offer from Vanderbilt. She joined ESPN’s first national rankings following freshman year. But as Carroll’s star was taking off, she also found herself stuck on the sidelines.
First, she injured her meniscus right before sophomore year, and though she avoided a major tear, she still had to get surgery. It was the first time her passion for basketball was seriously tested.
“You just watch everyone else play for what seems like forever, so I think it just really helped me fall in love with the game all over again,” Carroll said.
Carroll returned for the end of the season and AAU in the summer, but then suffered a bad ankle sprain during the first practice of junior year. She came back, but then, on Feb. 2 against Tilton, she went for a rebound and landed hard on the back of her head. Carroll was knocked out cold for about 10-20 seconds and spent the next 2 ½ weeks recovering from the concussion.
“I think the hardest part would be me feeling OK, and still not being able to play,” she said. “Especially with a concussion, it takes a while because it's your brain, of course. But there were days where I felt like I could play in the game and my trainers were just like, ‘Nope, we’ve got to make sure. Even if you feel good, it's this long to get ready.’”
Carroll is healthy now and still reaching new heights. She was one of 26 players invited to try out for the U.S. U-18 national team, and though she didn’t make the 12-player cut, she spent four days in mid-May at the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. Aside from the altitude adjustment, Carroll had a blast competing against the best high school players from around the country.
“These girls are like the top of the top of each team,” she said. “There's always that one player on each team that's unstoppable, and that was everyone there at the camp. So I think just the skills and the versatility that these girls had were really cool to play against.”
Her college decision is coming up — Carroll notices how coaches are talking more to her about present fit and less about potential, like they did way back when she was first showing flashes. She hopes to commit by the start of the fall.
In the meantime, Carroll is trying to keep her summer relaxed. She calls herself a “nasty” Spikeball player, and amidst her chaotic schedule, enjoys simply getting to the beach with friends or playing a basketball game in the driveway with her family.
“I think that the most important thing is having people around you, especially when you play basketball or do what I do,” Carroll said. “Because I'm away so much, I do miss a lot of stuff. Just making sure that when I do have that free time, [I’m] spending time with the people I love.”
