North Carolina sophomore Reniya Kelly gets to play close to home at Birmingham Regional

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BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — North Carolina sophomore Reniya Kelly will be playing at home Friday when the women's March Madness Sweet 16 comes to Alabama.

Kelly and the Tar Heels face rival Duke in Birmingham. She went to Hoover High School and played at the site of the regional five times. She said she won four of the five, losing her freshman year.

“It means everything. I’m just going to explain this part: I played here in my eighth grade, ninth grade, 10th grade, 11th grade, 12th grade, and only lost one time: it was my ninth grade year," Kelly said. "This is like a full cycle for me, and I’m really excited to be here, especially because my family and friends come out and see me. It’s really a blessing to be back home and be close: it’s like 20 minutes away from my house, so this is really close to me.”

Kelly said she was hoping her team would end up in Birmingham for the Sweet 16.

“I did not want to go to Washington (state),” she said laughing. “I just love this place so much, because I have so much experience and the atmosphere has always been here.”

She was a four-time state champion for Hoover, scoring 2,272 in her career. Her team went 168-10 and her jersey was retired in 2023.

“I’ve been to Hoover High School many times in order to get Reniya in the Carolina blue,” North Carolina coach Courtney Banghart said. “I thought she was the most improved player in the ACC. You look at her statistics from Year 1 to Year 2, you look at how she runs our team, how little our team changed and how much better we are, right? It’s because she’s been in charge of it.”

Kelly averaged 9.8 points, 2.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists this season for North Carolina. She said her favorite memory of playing in the arena came her senior year. She was subbed out with 50 seconds left and the game in hand. It was her last time playing for her high school team.

“I was crying," she said, "and I don’t usually cry.”

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AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness