Covering Carolina sports beyond just men's basketball and football — with the most complete women's basketball coverage
Four-star guard Lanie Grant, the only Carolina women’s basketball commitment for the Class of 2025, has earned a spot on the United States U16 team. Grant’s team will play in the FIBA Women’s U16 Americas Championship from June 13–19 in Merida, Mexico. High school players graduating in 2025 or 2026 make up the team, but Grant is one of only four Class of 2025 players on the 12-girl roster. Fifty-five players tried out for the team in Colorado Springs, Colo.
North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart continues to stack up the five-star players. She added another one on Monday when 6–5 Charlotte Catholic post player Blanca Thomas became the second Carolina commitment in the Class of 2024, picking the Tar Heels over Duke, N.C. State, South Carolina, Stanford, Notre Dame, Michigan, Tennessee and Virginia Tech.
North Carolina is one of the seven winners in the women’s basketball transfer portal this offseason, according to an analysis by The Athletic. Joining the Tar Heels on the list of winners are reigning national champion LSU, UCLA, Ohio State, South Carolina, Virginia Tech and Texas A&M.
From her days as a kindergartener, taller and better than everybody on a team of second-graders, Laila Hull has played beyond her years. She already had two scholarship offers by September of her ninth-grade year, when it was evident that coaches recognized her potential early.
UNC senior guard Deja Kelly will try out for the United States AmeriCup team in Colorado Springs, Colo., on May 11–15. Kelly will be one of 22 college players vying for 12 spots on the team representing the U.S. at the FIBA Women’s AmeriCup in Leon, Mexico, July 1–9. Two other ACC players will be at the trials — Syracuse’s Dyaisha Fair and Florida State’s Ta’Niya Latson, last season’s league rookie of the year — as well as former Wake Forest guard Jewel Spear, who is in the transfer portal.
Coach Courtney Banghart continues to build an elite women’s basketball program, and Carolina rewarded her Thursday with a five-year contract extension. Banghart, whose deal runs through the 2027–28 season, begins her fifth season in Chapel Hill this fall after her team rose to as high as No. 6 in the country last season, finished 22–11 and made the second round of the NCAA tournament.
Carolina got its third women’s basketball transfer commitment when former Stanford combo guard Indya Nivar, a North Carolina native and former McDonald’s All-American, committed to the Tar Heels on Sunday to give them six former five-star recruits on next season’s roster. The 5–10 Nivar, born in Fayetteville but an Apex Friendship High School graduate, will be a sophomore with three seasons of eligibility.
Coach Courtney Banghart’s fifth North Carolina team will be her deepest and most talented. That will create plenty of competition for playing time and many more options at her disposal — with the transfer portal still packed with available players.
Coach Courtney Banghart picked up another significant transfer on Monday when former Iowa State guard Lexi Donarski, a former five-star recruit, picked the Tar Heels. The Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year last season with 32 steals is ranked as the No. 4 player in the portal by 247 Sports and she is considered the best shooter in the portal. She played three seasons with the Cyclones and has two seasons of eligibility remaining.
The possibilities with artificial intelligence are fascinating, but the chatbots, such as Google’s Bard, still have a long way to go regarding accuracy. After watching this story on Sunday’s episode of “60 Minutes,” I was curious about what sorts of stories Bard would produce from prompts related to Carolina sports. Some were interesting, many were amusing, and accuracy left much to be desired.
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