Toronto Star Classroom Connection

Final force

Mississauga’s Amihere sparks South Carolina repeat hopes

GILBERT NGABO SPORTS REPORTER

Laeticia Amihere’s mother, Georgette, admits she isn’t good at managing stressful moments. Often when her daughter’s basketball team is playing an important game, she will duck out of the TV room at the family’s Mississauga home and wait until the outcome is no longer in doubt.

She hasn’t had to deal with much stress during March Madness this year.

Amihere and the unbeaten South Carolina Gamecocks have been crushing opponents. They won their first three games of the NCAA Tournament by huge margins, then shook off a shaky start to beat the Maryland Terrapins 86-75 on Monday night for a ticket to Friday’s Final Four.

The 21-year-old Amihere has been productive off the bench for the defending champions, who need to beat the Iowa Hawkeyes for a return ticket to the national title game.

“I think we are a very experienced team,” Amihere told the Star before the Maryland game, noting most of her teammates played for last year’s champion. “We have a lot of different weapons, both from our starting five and the bench. I think that’s one of the things that separates us from other teams.

“Everybody is bringing their best game against us, so we have to make sure that we are prepared.”

Georgette and a few other family members planned to be on hand for the Final Four. She tagged along last year and is looking forward to a similar experience.

“We were acting like fools when they won, jumping all over the place and screaming. It was incredible,” she said.

It was a moment of immense pride for immigrant parents — Georgette is from Ivory Coast, dad Anthony from Ghana — who struggled to raise three children. As a young girl, Amihere played soccer and ran track. Two older brothers — Benson and Kofi, who died suddenly last August — recognized her basketball skills and encouraged her to play organized ball at school. She had the height (now six-footfour) and coaches loved her passion and drive at both ends of the court.

Attention skyrocketed after she was recorded throwing down a successful dunk during an AAU game at age 15.

“My phone couldn’t stop ringing for several days after that,” Georgette said.

Amihere received offers from 54 universities, narrowed the list to four and settled on South Carolina.

Along the way, she has also had success internationally. She was part of the Canadian under-16 team that won FIBA Americas gold in 2015. With the under-17s the following year at the FIBA world championship, she led the tournament in blocks and rebounds. She also helped the Canadian under-19s take bronze at the 2017 FIBA World Cup.

Amihere expects good results for Canada again this summer at the World Cup, and next year’s Paris Olympics.

“The goal is to continue to win more medals with the national team,” she said, “and to be in the WNBA next year.”

Amihere is also making a positive impact off the court through Back to the Motherland, a non-profit she launched last year to help teach basketball fundamentals to young girls in West Africa. She’s held summer clinics there with help from her mother and plans to return.

By then, she might have another championship on her resumé. South Carolina is 36-0 heading into Friday night’s game in Dallas. Canada Basketball has been following her progress closely.

“When we first saw her (with the under-16 team), she was just an athlete,” said Steve Baur, assistant coach of Canada’s senior women’s team.

“From that time to now, she’s got the ability to put the ball on the floor, make some decisions. She can score around the rim, she’s developed an outside shot and she’s been an impact defender at every level.”

Baur called Amihere a consummate winner and an ideal fit for the national team for years to come.

“Laeticia will do whatever the team needs,” he said. “Much like she’s doing right now in her college career, she changes the shape of the game for us.”

With the Gamecocks, she does that by supplying energy off the bench, often extending leads while the starters catch their breath.

“We don’t want to look too far ahead, but we know that we’re extremely confident,” Amihere said. “Honestly, we feel that the only team that can beat us is ourselves.”

SPORTS

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2023-03-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

2023-03-31T07:00:00.0000000Z

https://torontostarnie.pressreader.com/article/282187950281351

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