By R.L. Bynum
After two seasons at North Carolina and 4½ years after she committed to the Tar Heels, Lanie Grant has decided to enter the transfer portal.
Grant committed to UNC on Thanksgiving Day 2021 at age 14 and sacrificed her senior season at James River High School in Midlothian, Va., to come to UNC and join Coach Courtney Banghart’s program a year early after earning 2024 Gatorade Virginia Player of the Year honors.
“Proud of everything we accomplished over the past two years with my teammates and coaches, and so thankful for the kindness and support from the Chapel Hill community,” Grant said in a Wednesday afternoon tweet. “Big new adventures ahead as I’ve decided to enter the transfer portal.”
According to a source, she nearly entered the portal last offseason but changed her mind.
The transfer portal opens Monday and closes on April 20.
After starting only two games during her freshman season, averaging 7.3 points, she started 29 of 34 games this past season, averaging 10.8 points, second on the team, and matched her career-high assist total of five three times last season.
Her team-high 41.9% 3-point shooting percentage was the second-highest in a single season in program history behind the 45.1% of Heather Claytor in 2006, second in the ACC and third in the country.
She scored a career-high 21 points in Carolina’s 85–68 victory over Virginia Tech on March 6 in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, and scored a career-high five 3-pointers on Jan. 25 in the 77–71 overtime victory over Syracuse.
Grant led the team in scoring (or shared the lead) seven times last season, and led the team in assists twice and in steals once.
Grant showed the savvy to drive to the hoop and create opportunities for her or her teammates, and also was lethal from outside the arc. She had 18 career games with at least three 3-pointers and six with at least four 3-pointers.
She was at the top of opposing teams’ scouting reports for the second half of the season, many times getting face-guarded, making it difficult for her to get off her shot.
She mostly came off the bench last season until she was in the starting lineup for all but one game, starting with the Dec. 29 game at Boston College. Her role kept growing as junior guard Reniya Kelly missed numerous games.
Grant sat on the bench for all but seven seconds over the last 5½ minutes of UNC’s 72–68 loss at Duke on Feb. 15, one game after scoring 15 points in a 94–42 victory over SMU.
If Kelly is healthy next season, there will be a lot of guards vying for playing time.
Five-star recruit Kate Harpring, the top-rated point guard in the Class of 2026, joins a roster that includes, assuming all return, Elina Aarnisalo, Jordan Zubich and Liza Astakhova. The latter two played sparingly.
Grant tied her season-low with three points on 1 of 8 shooting in the Tar Heels’ 63–42 season-ending loss to UConn on Friday in the Sweet 16 in Fort Worth, Texas.
“They were the ones I chose to rock with, and the energy, what Coach B is building, her philosophies,” Grant said in her decision to come to Carolina in an April 2024 Tar Heel Tribune story. “I just think that it’s a perfect fit for me, and it’s a perfect fit for what I want to try to do in college.”
Grant was a two-time Class 5 First Team All-State selection at James River, averaging 28.1 points, 6.2 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.7 steals in her final high school season.
Guard Trayanna Crisp was the only UNC player to transfer out last offseason, playing her senior season at Mississippi State.
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Projected roster if all players with eligibility other than Lanie Grant return, with years listed for next season (2 under the 15-player limit)
| Year | No./ Stars | Players | Pos. | Height | |
| Freshman | 5 star | Kate Harpring | PG | 5–10 | |
| Freshman | 4 star | Noelle Bofia | F | 6–4 | |
| Sophomore | 5 | Liza Astakhova | W | 6–2 | |
| Sophomore | 7 | Nyla Brooks | W | 6–1 | |
| Sophomore | 3 | Taliyah Henderson | W | 6–1 | |
| Sophomore | 26 | Taissa Queiroz | G | 6–1 | |
| Junior | 17 | Elina Aarnisalo | G | 5–10 | |
| Junior | 34 | Blanca Thomas | C | 6–5 | |
| Junior | 1 | Jordan Zubich | G | 5–11 | |
| RS junior | 21 | Ciera Toomey | F | 6–4 | |
| RS junior | 4 | Laila Hull | W | 6–1 | |
| Senior | 10 | Reniya Kelly | G | 5–7 | |
| Senior | 15 | Sydney Barker | G | 5–6 |
Entering transfer portal
Guard Lanie Grant, a rising junior
Photo courtesy of UNC Athletics
