GREEN BAY, Wis. (WFRV) – There's no place like home, just ask Gracie Grzesk. The former Notre Dame Academy star and three-time WIAA state champion is returning to Green Bay, now as a member of the UW-Green Bay Phoenix basketball team. "It's kind of surreal and it hasn't sunken in yet," Grze sk said of her signing with the Phoenix. After spending her freshman season with the Wisconsin Badgers, where she played in 16 games and averaged 4.4 minutes a matchup, Grzesk entered the transfer portal. That's when a familiar name popped up - Phoenix head coach Kayla Karius. "Kayla actually was the first coach to ever call me, which is really full circle," Grzesk said of the first-year Green Bay coach. Karius began recruiting Grzesk when she was an 8th grader, and continued to recruit her at each stop of Karius' coaching career: Wisconsin, Drake, South Dakota, and now Green Bay. "I feel like this is not just a win for myself, or for my coaching staff. This is a win for the whole city," Karius said of Grzesk's signing. "I explained to her during our recruitment process that this place and this school can give you everything that you are looking for...she knew this was the place that she could call home." Grzesk literally grew up around the UW-Green Bay campus. Her parents Liz and Gary both served as assistant coaches for the women's and men's basketball teams respectively. Gracie fondly remembers attending Green Bay games and camps throughout her childhood. Before she was born, her dad Gary was a star player for the Phoenix in the 1990s. Now, he will watch his daughter don the same jersey he once did. "We've been going through old pictures from when I played. Now to see her in that same uniform is pretty special," Gary Grzesk said of Gracie's commitment to Green Bay. Gracie Grzesk will join a Phoenix team that graduated seven seniors after a first-round exit in the NCAA tournament. She is eager to carry on her family name and leave her own mark on a program that has meant so much to her. ...read more read less