WNBA Connecticut Sun’s Saniya Rivers high school jersey retired

WNBA player Saniya Rivers had her No. 22 jersey retired at Ashley High School in Wilmington.Rivers was the 2021 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year and the eighth overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft.She played college basketball at South Carolina, winning a national championship, and later at N.C. State, leading the team to a Final Four.Rivers finished her rookie season with the Connecticut Sun, averaging 8.8 points per game.

Saniya Rivers could barely move.

Each step into the lobby of the Ashley High School gym was met with a pause. A photo. A hug. A child tugging at her sleeve. Her impact filled the room before she ever reached it, unfolding moment by moment in real time.

It was all happening less than an hour before the 2021 Gatorade National Girls Basketball Player of the Year and eighth overall pick in the 2025 WNBA Draft had her No. 22 jersey retired Friday, Dec. 12, at Ashley High School in Wilmington.

“It really just hit me this morning what was going on, like my jersey is being retired,” Rivers told the StarNews before her jersey was retired Friday. “It’s a big deal, and I think I downplayed it a little bit, but once I stepped in, all my family is here, people were coming up taking pictures, it’s just like, ‘Wow, this is really happening.”

Rivers would go on to speak for several minutes to Ashley fans inside the school gym, reflecting on her journey as a Screaming Eagle, the loss of her mother and her path to becoming a professional basketball player.

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“I just want to say thank you, Ashley High School,” Rivers told hundreds of Screaming Eagles fans in attendance. “As you all know, I lost my mom about seven months ago, so it was very hard for me to fathom getting my jersey retired without her being with me physically. I really appreciate you guys bringing the love and support.”

CATCH UP WITH SANIYA Connecticut Sun’s Saniya Rivers reflects on mother’s death, continuing basketball journey

Rivers began her high school career at Wilmington’s Laney High School, the same program Michael Jordan attended in the 1980s. She transferred to Ashley for her junior season, moving roughly 15 miles south within the city.

“Absolutely,” Rivers said when asked if she was nervous Friday. “Nerves are good. It just means that I care. I’m really excited to be back on my old stomping grounds.”

It was at Ashley where Rivers emerged as a national star. She won the North Carolina Gatorade Player of the Year three times before earning the national honor in 2021. The No. 3 girls basketball recruit in the country, Rivers, committed to South Carolina and was a part of the Gamecocks’ national championship in 2022.

“I’m not going to lie, if you had told me that this would be me (When I was younger), I would have looked at you crazy,” Rivers said. “I don’t have words for it. I’m speechless.”

She later transferred to N.C. State and led the Wolfpack to its first Final Four since the Kay Yow era as an All-ACC first-teamer before being selected eighth overall by the Connecticut Sun at the 2025 WNBA Draft in New York.

Rivers finished her 2025 WNBA rookie season sixth in the league in steals with 62 while averaging 8.8 points per game. She posted a career-high 20 points against Los Angeles on Aug. 11, 2025.

The jersey retirement marked the second for a prominent athlete at Ashley since 2024, following the retirement of Pittsburgh Steelers linebacker Alex Highsmith’s No. 34 on Feb. 9, 2024.

“You never forget where you’re from,” Rivers said of Wilmington. “I’ll always come back to my old stomping grounds. I’m happy to be back. It’s a really good feeling.”