Carson Dillard joined the ORU women's basketball staff in 2026-27 as a graduate assistant, arriving after a four-year playing career that ended with one of the best seasons in recent Evangel University history.
Dillard supports the Golden Eagles on both the analytics and player development sides. She charts practice and tracks team efficiency data through Synergy, producing shooting charts and weekly reports for the coaching staff, and helps break down practice groups. She sits in on film sessions alongside the assigned coaches, works with the program's practice squad, and assists with on-campus recruiting visits, game day operations and the program's social media.
Dillard spent three seasons at Evangel, an NAIA program in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference, where she finished with 1,065 career points across 80 games and 74 starts. The 5-foot-7 guard averaged 13.3 points per game for her Evangel career and knocked down 182 three-pointers at a 37.2 percent clip, adding 256 rebounds, 137 assists and 82 steals.
Her senior season in 2025-26 was her best. Dillard started all 31 games and averaged 13.4 points, shooting 46.6 percent from the floor and 39.5 percent from three while leading the Valor with 79 made three-pointers. She earned WBCA All-America honorable mention, was named All-KCAC Second Team and opened the year as the conference's Offensive Player of the Week.
The 2025-26 Valor went 24-2 in the regular season and 21-1 in league play to claim the first KCAC regular season championship in program history, then won the KCAC Tournament and advanced to the NAIA National Tournament. Evangel climbed as high as No. 15 in the NAIA coaches poll and ranked third nationally in scoring at 89.2 points per game.
As a junior in 2024-25, Dillard earned All-KCAC Honorable Mention after starting all 29 games, averaging 12.9 points and leading Evangel with 54 three-pointers. She started 14 of 20 games as a sophomore in 2023-24 and averaged 13.8 points while shooting 42.6 percent from beyond the arc, the best mark of her career.
Dillard began her college career at Southwestern Oklahoma State, appearing in games as a freshman in 2022-23 before transferring to Evangel.
A native of Farmington, Arkansas, Dillard was an all-state guard at Farmington High School, where she helped the Lady Cardinals reach consecutive Class 4A state championship games. As a senior she averaged 16.3 points per game for a team that won 22 straight, scored 28 in a state semifinal victory over Prairie Grove and was selected to the Arkansas high school all-star game. Dillard earned her bachelor's degree in physical education from Evangel and is pursuing a master's in sports management at ORU. She is the daughter of Kim and Bryant Dillard and has a sister, Josie.
