Taliyah Henderson participated in the 2018 USATF Hershey National Junior Olympic Championships in Greensboro, North Carolina. That in and of itself was not unusual; Taliyah was an elite 400- and 800-meter runner as a middle schooler.
Michael Lev is a senior writer/columnist for the Arizona Daily Star, Tucson.com and The Wildcaster.
The noteworthy part was the side trip. Taliyah’s father, Anthony, took her to the University of North Carolina campus in Chapel Hill. UNC women's basketball has its own building, Carmichael Arena.
“She actually got to run across the court when she wasn’t supposed to,” Taliyah’s mother, Danica, recalled. “He snuck her in there.”
Where their eldest child would go to college wasn’t at the forefront of Anthony and Danica’s minds back then. But that extremely unofficial visit to UNC foreshadowed a major life decision that was coming down the road.
Tobacco Road, it turned out.
Taliyah Henderson — the Salpointe Catholic High School basketball standout and No. 21-ranked prospect in the class of 2025 — committed to North Carolina on Friday afternoon. Taliyah disclosed her choice at a well-attended ceremony inside Kalil Family Gymnasium, unzipping her black jacket to reveal a Carolina Blue T-shirt with the Air Jordan Jumpman logo smack-dab in the center.
Taliyah Henderson, star player from the Salpointe Catholic High School girls basketball team, announces she will continue her basketball career with the North Carolina Tar Heels at Kalil Family Gymnasium on Friday afternoon.
The way Taliyah and her family see it, UNC was meant to be. As soon as she stepped foot on campus again earlier this summer, Taliyah “really felt that family feel,” she said. “They supported me. You could tell they believed in me. That energy and that passion when I was on campus was undeniable.”
“People say, ‘When you know, you know,’ ” her mother added. “And she knew.”
Taliyah’s announcement ended a recruiting journey that began when she was 13 years old and received her first offer from Utah Valley. She received more than 30 offers in all, including some from schools with more cachet in the women’s basketball space than UNC.
But this decision wasn’t about where she’d have the highest profile or could make the most NIL money. It was about finding someplace that felt like home.
“Family and community is really important to me,” Taliyah said after the ceremony. “That’s why there’s so many people here today.”
About that ...
Family and friends of Taliyah Henderson, star player from the Salpointe Catholic High School girls basketball team, celebrate her decision to attend North Carolina at Kalil Family Gymnasium Friday.
There were at least 60 supporters, maybe more, sitting in the bleachers on the east side of the gym. Henderson tried to acknowledge as many of them as she could.
At an event that was supposed to be all about her, she went out of her way to make it about everyone who helped her along the way.
“It’s important because everybody sees just me,” Taliyah said. “They don’t see the behind the scenes. They don’t see how many people have put in hours, sacrificed time, energy, everything. It was really important to bring to light what other people have done for me.”
Reading from remarks she had written, printed and practiced, Taliyah thanked God, her youth coaches, her travel-ball coaches, her high school coaches, her teammates, her grandfathers, her aunts and uncles, her godfather and her knee surgeon. She even thanked a grandmother and uncle who had passed away.
“I just wanted to let you know that I did it and I hope you’re proud of me,” Taliyah said, her voice briefly cracking.
Taliyah Henderson celebrates her announcement to play at North Carolina with her Jason Kidd Select club teammates Lainey Day, left, and Sage Henry.
She was flanked by her parents at a table parked at the 3-point arc on the north end of the court. She thanked Anthony, a former Salpointe football star who’s now a physical therapist, for preparing her mind for school and her body for athletics. “I’m grateful that you put that mini-basketball in my hands,” she said.
Taliyah thanked Danica, who played basketball at Idaho State, for teaching her post moves, breaking down film and having those “tough after-game conversations all the way home.”
“She’s my ‘momager,’ ” Taliyah said. “Mom, I couldn’t thank you enough for all the sacrifices you’ve made for me and all the stress you’ve taken from me.”
Taliyah spoke for almost 15 minutes and even apologized for how long she was taking. (No need, Taliyah! All good!)
She then showed she could execute a pump fake: “With that being said ... I’m just kidding, not yet.”
Taliyah rose from her seat and launched a video on a TV set up next to the table. She narrated the video, which recounted her athletic journey. At the end, multiple school logos flashed in succession.
Henderson, left, gives a thank-you speech beside her mother, Danica, before announcing her college decision at Kalil Family Gymnasium on Friday.
Finally, we got the good kind of blue screen — Carolina Blue. The crowd erupted in cheers.
Afterward, Henderson ticked off all the reasons she plans to spend the next 4-5 years in Chapel Hill playing for Courtney Banghart (who, you might recall, led UNC past Arizona at McKale Center to advance to the Sweet 16 in 2022).
UNC has the academic profile she was looking for; when she’s done, Taliyah plans to become a sports journalist or broadcaster.
Banghart has shown she can develop players; that’s a critical piece for Taliyah, who hopes to play in the WNBA and the Olympics someday. She represented Canada in the up-2024/teams/canada#statistics" target="_blank">FIBA U18 Women’s AmeriCup in Colombia in June. (Danica is from Langley, British Columbia, about an hour southeast of Vancouver.)
Henderson talks to her parents, Anthony and Danica, before announcing her decision to attend North Carolina.
Banghart and her staff remained committed to Taliyah after she suffered a second major knee injury. In 2023, Taliyah had a meniscus tear in her right knee that cost her a chunk of her junior season. On July 21, Taliyah suffered a torn ACL in her left knee while playing in a tournament in Louisville, Kentucky. She had surgery a little over a week ago and sported a large brace on her leg during the ceremony Friday.
Taliyah likely will miss her senior season at Salpointe, but she’s expected to make a full recovery.
“I went on my visit (to UNC) in July, and I kind of knew,” she said. “But after I got hurt, the reaction I got from Coach Banghart and the staff and from North Carolina as a whole, the full support, I knew that was the place for me.”
The love and support Taliyah felt meant a lot to her parents, too.
“It gives you a sense of relief,” Anthony said. “Because you know that someone’s gonna take care of her.”
Taliyah Henderson gets emotional while she thanks her late family members before announcing her college decision Aug. 23 at the Kalil Family Gymnasium on the Salpointe Catholic High School campus in Tucson.
Anthony and Danica — who met at Idaho State, where he was a running back/linebacker and she was a forward/center — have been doing that their whole lives. They have more big-time athletes on the way in Anniah, 12, and twins Milah and Trey, 9.
After she spends this upcoming basketball season as an unofficial assistant coach for Joe Luevano and the Lancers, Taliyah will leave the nest and head east. Something about North Carolina — the mecca of college basketball — has always attracted her.
She felt on her first visit. She felt it on her last visit. She felt it another time in between.
“She had an AAU tournament in North Carolina, one of her first big ones,” Danica said. “She looked at her club coach and was like, ‘I love this place. I want to live here one day.’
“So when we went to campus, all that childhood nostalgia came back to her — the feeling of home away from home.”
