Laeticia Amihere Shares Her Experience Playing with Canadian National Team

South Carolina’s Laetica Amihere is not your average freshman. Coming in to college she was the number 10 recruit in the nation and had a viral dunk to her name before even stepping foot on campus.

It should be no surprise that she’s not having the average freshmen experience.

In addition to adjusting to the rigors of college life, she’s played meaningful minutes for the Gamecocks as they’ve been the number one team in the nation for most of the season.

In February, she stepped away from all of that to help her home country Canada qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Games.

For Amihere, representing her country wasn’t something she envisioned until her teenager years, as her hometown of Mississauga, Ontario didn’t have many examples for her growing up.

She was in Belgium when she found out she made the team and was excited at the opportunity.

Amihere was able to not only form relationships and represent her country, but she was able to pick the brains of two Canadian greats in Kia Nurse and Natalie Achonwa.

Nurse, a standout at UConn currently plays for the New York Liberty, while Achonwa, who was a key player for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish, has spent her entire five-year WNBA career with the Indiana Fever.

Amihere said she had the opportunity to talk to both and learned a lot from Achonwa in particular as they play the same position and both have had to recover from grueling leg injuries.

The impact the professional duo has made on Canadian basketball is undeniable and seen in a number of murals popping up in Toronto featuring them both. Amihere’s former trainer Lee Anna Osei said that even Amihere is influencing up and coming high schooler such as LaTasha Lattimore, a 6’4” forward out of Toronto and a heavily sought after recruit in the 2021 class.

As hectic as the experience was, Amihere said she believes it will serve her well as the she helps the Gamecocks compete for an SEC title before going on to compete on the biggest stage in college basketball, the NCAA Tournament.