BREAKING: Kie’Aundria Acree to announce college decision

ALBANY — After years of scholarship offers, recruiting calls, campus visits and national attention, Kie’Aundria “KJ” Acree is ready to make her decision.

The Monroe Comprehensive High School basketball star will announce her college commitment Friday during a 10 a.m. ceremony at the Monroe gymnasium, bringing one of Southwest Georgia’s most closely followed recruitments to a conclusion.

Acree, a senior guard and nationally ranked Class of 2027 prospect, enters her final season at Monroe with more than 2,600 career points and a résumé that has made her one of the most accomplished players in program history.

Her recruitment began before she ever played a high school game.

South Carolina offered Acree before she entered the eighth grade, and the list grew rapidly as her career progressed. By the end of her sophomore season, she had received more than three dozen Division I offers. Programs including Notre Dame, Stanford and other national powers have recruited her during a process that has stretched across much of her high school career.

Friday, the speculation ends.

Acree will make her choice surrounded by classmates, coaches and members of the Monroe community that have watched her develop from a highly regarded young prospect into one of Georgia’s premier players.

The numbers help explain the attention.

As a sophomore, Acree averaged 31 points, 15 rebounds, six assists, four steals and 3.7 blocked shots while scoring 932 points. She recorded a double-double in every game and led Monroe to a Region 1-AAA championship and the Class AAA Elite Eight.

She was named the Albany Herald Girls Basketball Player of the Year and the Georgia Athletic Coaches Association Class AAA South Player of the Year.

A year later, Acree helped take Monroe another step.

The Lady Tornadoes finished 27-4 and reached the Class AAA Final Four during her junior season. Acree averaged 30.6 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and four blocks and finished as Georgia’s leading scorer in girls basketball.

Her growing national profile also extended beyond high school basketball. Earlier this year, Acree was selected for PUMA’s inaugural high school NIL class, becoming the only Georgia player among the seven athletes chosen nationally.

But some of the most significant milestones have happened at home.

Acree reached 1,000 career points during her sophomore season, doing it faster than any boys’ or girls’ basketball player in Monroe or Dougherty County Schools history. She surpassed 2,000 points as a junior and now enters her final season with more than 2,600.

Through it all, Acree has played for her mother, Monroe girls basketball coach Jennifer Acree, while repeatedly making clear that one accomplishment remains missing from her high school résumé — a state championship.

She will pursue that goal this winter with the college decision finally behind her.

First comes Friday.

For years, college programs from around the country have told Acree they wanted her.

At 10 a.m. inside the Monroe gym, KJ Acree will finally tell everyone where she wants to go.