South Carolina women's basketball: Senior Profile - Laeticia Amihere

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In November 2018, South Carolina signed the top-ranked recruiting class in the country. It was a group of five players (four scholarship and one walk-on) hailed as potentially the best signing class ever. 

Four years later, Laeticia Amihere, Brea Beal, Aliyah Boston, Zia Cooke, and Olivia Thompson have led South Carolina to the most successful period in program history and are on the verge of completing one of the most successful four-year runs in the history of the sport.

Part of what makes the 2019 class so special is that each member stayed all four years. They turned down the potential for greater individual accomplishments elsewhere to stay and win. On Sunday they will play their final home game.

This week GamecockCentral will recognize each member of that class. On Monday we profiled Olivia Thompson. For Tuesday we profile her roommate from the Great White North, Laeticia Amihere.

Laeticia Amihere, #15, 6-4, Guard/Forward, Mississauga, Ontario, Canada

Bio:

Amihere was, technically the first member of the class. After a torn right ACL ended her high school career prematurely, Amihere enrolled early at South Carolina. She joined the Gamecocks in January 2019 to rehab with South Carolina’s strength and conditioning staff. 

Amihere’s first two seasons were largely defined by that injury, plus a torn left ACL as a junior, which seriously impaired her athletic ability. It was injuries to other players that changed the course of Amihere’s career.

Amihere has become one of South Carolina’s most versatile and valuable players. She can play every position on the floor and understands the playbook at each position.

Then:

Like her classmates, Amihere came to South Carolina after a legendary prep career. She was the first Canadian girl to dunk in a game, and her athletic ability was the stuff of fables.

She wore a bulky knee brace as a freshman and played out of position at power forward, a role that didn’t require as much quickness. Amihere had her moments, like 14 points in the statement win over Kentucky. 

Now:

When injuries left the Gamecocks without a point guard, Dawn Staley turned to her backup power forward to run the show. Moving Amihere away from the basket was a revelation that unlocked all of her length, athleticism, and skill.

Amihere became a calming force as a senior. Staley could insert Amihere at any position at any point during the game and create mismatches that few teams could counter. Those mismatches don’t just benefit Amihere, they open up opportunities for her teammates as well.

The Sacrifice:

For most of three seasons, Amihere played out of position, first in the post and then shuffled out to point guard with only a few days of practice. She also juggled her commitment to the Gamecocks with her commitment to Team Canada, missing a number of games to go compete with her senior national team.

As a Canadian, Amihere was far from her family. It became especially difficult during the pandemic when she had to get special permission from her embassy just to go home for Christmas. It was even worse last summer, when both her brother and grandmother passed away.

FAM Favorite moment:

As a senior against Stanford, Amihere had a huge fourth quarter and overtime to secure South Carolina’s come-from-behind win. She had nine points, six rebounds, and two blocks, but that didn’t tell the story.

The Gamecocks’ usual lineups weren’t working against the Cardinal, so Staley adjusted on the fly. She turned to a backcourt of Amihere, Zia Cooke, and Bree Hall and they delivered. 

Amihere drew the fifth foul on Cameron Brink, a player South Carolina had otherwise been unable to stop, and then sank two free throws to give the Gamecocks their first lead since the first quarter. She then fought through a box out to force a jump ball that kept possession with South Carolina, taking up valuable time.

My favorite moment:

The same. Never was Amihere’s versatility and value on a bigger display, and never in such a clutch moment.

Amihere had other flashes. There was the record-setting nine blocks as South Carolina held Texas scoreless in the 2021 Elite Eight. There were the seven assists in her emergency start at point guard against Kansas State. And there were the career-high 18 points as South Carolina ran away from Oregon in the Bahamas.

But the Stanford game felt like the perfect realization of everything Amihere has to offer.

Legacy:

As good as she is on the court, and she’s an Olympian so she must be pretty good, Amihere’s greatest legacy might be off the court. Staley once predicted Amihere would someday become the Prime Minister of Canada, and it’s easy to see why.

Last summer she launched her “Back to the Motherland” foundation and ran a basketball camp in the Ivory Coast. Amihere has been a leader on campus at South Carolina and selected for some of the highest leadership positions offered by the SEC.

Whenever Amihere decides her playing days are over, she will settle comfortably into a role as a public servant.

Career stats (as of 2/20/23):

117 games (4 starts), 6.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.1 bpg

Records:

• Most blocked shots in an NCAA Tournament game (9)

Awards:

• NCAA Hemisfair All-Tournament Team (2022)
• SEC Academic Honor Roll (2020, 2021, 2022)
• SEC Women’s Basketball Community Service Team (2020, 2021, 2022)
• SEC Women’s Basketball Leadership Council Co-Chair (2022)
• Olympian (2020 Tokyo)

Team accomplishments:

120-8 overall record, 55-1 home record, two SEC regular season championships, two SEC tournament championships, two Final Fours, 2020 consensus #1, 2022 national champions.

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