Louis Fernandez

Raleigh

Executive Producer at WRAL-TV (Raleigh, NC)

WRAL Sports Reporter | 919 | Try-hard extraordinaire | He/Him ✉️ : [email protected]

Articles

UNC's Alyssa Ustby and Maria Gakdeng get WNBA training camp invites

1 week ago | wralsportsfan.com | Louis Fernandez

Two of North Carolina women's basketball's biggest playmakers are getting a chance to make a WNBA roster. Maria Gakdeng and Alyssa Ustby have signed contracts to attend WNBA training camps, the program announced on Tuesday night. Gakdeng heads to the Atlanta Dream while Ustby goes to the Los Angeles Sparks. One player under head coach Courtney Banghart at Carolina has made a WNBA roster: Stephanie Watts in 2021. Gakdeng spent two seasons with the Tar Heels after transferring from Boston College.
NC State's Saniya Rivers reflects on journey to the WNBA

1 week ago | wralsportsfan.com | Louis Fernandez

It's Tuesday morning and things have yet to slow down for former NC State do-it-all guard Saniya Rivers. She was drafted No. 8 overall in the 2025 WNBA Draft. She rides in a limo to greet media at the facilities of her new team, the Connecticut Sun. Is a whirlwind of a weekend finally starting to sink in? After a long pause, she finally answers. "Slowly. It's slowly starting to hit me. I It's just so surreal. A lot of, oh my, I can't really put them into words," Rivers said.
Extra Effort: Julie Selig shines in every season for Fuquay-Varina High School

1 week ago | highschoolot.com | Louis Fernandez

Julie Selig and sports at Fuquay-Varina High School. Hard to separate the two. Fall, winter, spring, she's played every season since her freshman year. Cross Country, swimming, softball, even flag football this year. "She's always playing a sport here and always has a smile on her face. In the classroom, outside the classroom, Julie is just to me the perfect student-athlete in Fuquay-Varina High school," said director of athletic James Mountford.
Duke senior Reigan Richardson handles the pressure that comes with expectations

3 weeks ago | wralsportsfan.com | Louis Fernandez

Duke senior Reigan Richardson's favorite memory in Durham? Her final game at Cameron Indoor Stadium: Senior Night. "Being able to do it just around the group of girls you've been playing with for the past years, it just felt like a different kind of special for me, especially with my entire family being there as well," Richardson said. A 2021 McDonald's All-American, Richardson started her career at Georgia before transferring to Duke as a sophomore.
Apex Friendship's Indya Nivar talks journey back to North Carolina

3 weeks ago | wralsportsfan.com | Louis Fernandez

Indya Nivar, welcome back to North Carolina. "Really taking in every moment, because I love being back. I think that's what I needed to do after that first year at Stanford," Nivar said. The junior guard spent her freshman year on the west coast with the Cardinal before transferring to UNC last season. Now in her second year as a full-time starter, she's helping guide the Tar Heels back to the Sweet Sixteen.
Stanley Borden brings music and more to Duke's locker room

4 weeks ago | wralsportsfan.com | Louis Fernandez

Duke senior 7'0" center Stanley Borden is so much more than a basketball player. Walk into the locker room and he might just be busy working on sharpening his musical skills, like at the Lenovo Center during the first weekend of the NCAA Tournament. "This is a mini keyboard," Borden said with headphones resting against one ear, behind the other. "I'm in a sound design class currently and I've always been very passionate about music."He's made that passion known.
How a practice player turned into a pivotal piece for Duke's championship run

4 weeks ago | wralsportsfan.com | Louis Fernandez

I was at nearly every Duke men's basketball game at Cameron Indoor Stadium this season. Two moments stand out as the loudest: The Cooper Flagg dunk against PItt (it's in a Gatorade commercial now, it was that good) Every moment graduate student guard Spencer Hubbard runs to the scorer's table. Warm-ups off, sliding to halfcourt, sitting in front of a sign that reads "Cameron Indoor Stadium," a lot goes through your mind in a moment like that.
Return to Raleigh: Kayla Jones goes from player to graduate assistant

1 month ago | wralsportsfan.com | Louis Fernandez

Seven years is a long time to spend with a basketball team. For NC State graduate assistant Kayla Jones, she'd be happier if it was longer. "It's home, they're family," Jones said. A native of Jamesville, North Carolina, Jones (called KJ by many on the team) played five seasons with the Wolfpack from 2017-2022.
Despite injuries, surgeries, UNC guard Kayla McPherson's positivity leads Tar Heels

1 month ago | wralsportsfan.com | Louis Fernandez

UNC redshirt junior guard Kayla McPherson always has a cheer in her heart and a smile on her face, whether she's leading the team in pregame or helping run warmups. "I literally just like having fun. Basketball is an amazing sport, and I say sometimes people take it way too seriously," McPherson said. If there's anyone that could have an excuse to take basketball too seriously, it's her. "My experience here has been, I think the easy way to put it, for me at least, is unpredictable," McPherson said.
From Sweden to Raleigh: NC State's Tilda Trygger brings family together

1 month ago | wralsportsfan.com | Louis Fernandez

When NC State women's basketball fans see No. 18, they think of a freshman stepping up in a big way for the Wolfpack this season. When Ulrika Trygger sees 18, she sees her daughter, Tilda. "She's spontaneous, a little bit crazy, and very sweet," Ulrika Trygger laughed. The 6'6" freshman, Tilda Trygger, has seen her role shift in a major way during her first year in Raleigh. What was always going to be a new frontcourt for the Wolfpack quickly shrunk because of injuries.