WNBA: Laeticia Amihere’s journey from South Carolina to Atlanta Dream

Within the metropolis of Mississauga, simply west of Toronto, Laeticia Amihere began to play basketball, becoming the stereotype that tall women play basketball. She didn’t need her reply to proceed to be “no” when she was requested if she performed the game; it was simply one thing she was bored with saying. That’s actually how it began for the No. 8 decide within the 2023 WNBA Draft!

Earlier than she began enjoying, Amihere was a spectator who watched her brothers, Kofi and Benson, play within the driveway. Amihere was drafted with a heavy coronary heart as a result of Kofi died at age 30 final 12 months. Amihere’s aunt, Olga Lambert, who used to all the time drive her to basketball follow, handed away two months later.

Amihere performed her remaining season at South Carolina with these losses on her thoughts. Her faith is robust and her energy evident as she continues to perform nice issues in honor of her family members.

Amihere owns the 2023 SEC Tournament MVP trophy — as a result of Aliyah Boston gave it to her. Amihere performed properly in that event, however that trophy additionally symbolizes what she meant to the South Carolina program over her 4 years. She got here in as a member of “The Freshies” and was so essential to the Gamecocks’ immense success. She sacrificed the highlight and her contributions off the bench weren’t as heralded as these of the workforce’s starters. However her influence was felt by her teammates and is well-known to South Carolina’s diehard followers. She nonetheless holds this system file for many blocked photographs in an NCAA Event sport (9, 2021).

In highschool (King’s Christian Collegiate), Amihere went by means of the ordeal of two ACL tears and nonetheless turned the No. 10 Hoopgurlz recruit within the class of 2019. She is named the primary Canadian girl to dunk in a sport, doing so at age 15.

Amihere reps Canada to the fullest; she competed for the pink and white on the 2021 Olympic ladies’s basketball workforce. However she additionally stays true to West Africa, the place each her dad and mom are from. She began the nonprofit Again to the Motherland, which runs basketball clinics for women within the Ivory Coast. Her aim is to present everybody an opportunity to play basketball, no matter how a lot cash they’ve, remembering when she was a child and her coach, Kenny Manning, waived the workforce charges that she was unable to pay.

Amihere leaves school as a nationwide champion and three-time Remaining 4 participant. She was additionally a regular on the SEC Educational Honor Roll and the SEC Girls’s Basketball Group Service Workforce. Her dedication to serving to others offers her with a shiny future in something she does.

So far as her upcoming WNBA profession with the Atlanta Dream, everyone seems to be speaking about her top (6-foot-4) and wingspan (6-foot-10). She will play any place on the courtroom, even level guard — she has the flexibility to deal with the ball and run an offense, which she displayed at South Carolina. Will probably be attention-grabbing to see what she does within the league.