Arica Derris Carter (born July 19, 1996) is an American professional women's basketball player for Perfumerias Avenidas in the Spanish Liga Femenina de Baloncesto and, previously, was in Panathinaikos before os that she won the championship in Mexico after stints with teams in the Spanish Liga Femenina de Baloncesto and Phoenix Mercury of the United States's Women’s National Basketball Association (WNBA).

Carter was born in Los Angeles, California, to parents Derrick Moses and Fern Carter and has six sisters and one brother. She played basketball at Long Beach Poly and was the first player from that school to be drafted and/or play in the WNBA.^[1] She later described her mother and sister as role models because "they are three strong women who keep pushing through no matter what the circumstances are".^[2]

Carter was a key member of the Long Beach Poly girls basketball team and won tournament MVP by, among the other tournament success, recording 12 points and eight steals in the final of the 2012 Inglewood City of Champions Elite Division.^[3] This was followed up with being chosen as Dream Team Player of the Year in 2013, averaging over 11 points per game,^[4] as Long Beach Poly won the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division 1 championship in a 46–28 win over Berkley including 11 points from Carter.^[5] She averaged 10.5 points, 5.1 steals and 4.3 rebounds in her final 2014 season to win her second CIF championship with the Long Beach Jackrabbits; this time finishing champions in the Open Division^[6][7] with Carter scoring five in the 70–52 victory over Salesian.

Long Beach Poly's coach Carl Buggs said of Carter that ""She has a complete game, She has the ability to score, to score in crunch time, to make an assist, and she plays great defense"^[4] and that she chose to attend Louisville after high school because she saw that the players there practised hard - even when the coach was not watching them; he added that "it made me happy to be reminded that there are still players like that. She really cares about winning and about the game."^[8]

Carter, known as "AC",^[9] played four years, including three as a starter, at Louisville for the Cardinals while studying for a degree in psychology.^[2] She did not start in her freshman year, but played in 34 games and had a season that she later described as "a little rough" shooting zero for 15 from three point range. Her coach said that in that season she "couldn't hit the broad side of a barn."^[9] She commented that her response to the first season was to spend more time practicing shooting in the gym and that resulted in shooting percentages of nearly 40 percent at 3-point range and 30 minutes per game in later years.^[9] Carter did not play in the 2016–17 season due to a hernia, and took a medical redshirt that year, allowing her to be eligible for both the 2017–18 and 2018–19 seasons. During this season, Carter and the Cardinals would win the ACC Tournament. Carter also participated in three NCAA Tournaments during her time at Louisville.^[10][11]

In her college career she was known for her team leadership, mentoring of fellow players (including star guard Asia Durr) and quiet, unflashy but effective scoring and point-management in her role as point guard. Her coach Jeff Walz said that Carter was "just a heady, smart basketball player. AC, she just grinds it out"^[9]