BUENOS AIRES (FIBA Women's AmeriCup) - Alongside Paraguay, this Caribbean archipelago’s women national basketball team are another one of this tournament’s wonderful surprises. Today they defeated the South American champions, Brazil, no more and no less than 67-60. With a 2-2 record, they are still in the game for the pass to the 2019 Pan American Games and awaiting to see what will happen in the remaining Group A games to possibly qualify for Semis. It would be a significant feat, taking into consideration the obstacles they overcame to play in Buenos Aires.

The Centrobasket champions played an unusual card to shape their squad: they drew from volleyball. Four of the VI’s players came from that pool: Lanese Bough, Raemiesha Claxton, Anisha George and I’tiana Taylor. The former signed her first professional contract in February with the Sharjah Ladies Club of the United Emirates city of Dubai, after playing for the East Carolina University Pirates.

“Well, [it’s] kind of easy, I just got to get back to running up and down the court, so the jumping and grabbing the ball and shooting. Shooting is a little hard for me, a little bit", says the 24-year old center in relation of what basketball means to her. With 6’1”, she's the tallest player in the team, which is why she’s one of the main rebound weapons (averaging 9.8 points and seven rebounds per game). Her good height enables her to play as an outside hitter at volleyball.

"I had a base of basketball and while I was doing the base of basketball I was also playing volleyball. I was getting the technique and everything in high school, so I kind of got the best of both worlds. I go to volleyball most of the time and then I change back to basketball," I’tiana explains.

When explaining the differences between both sports, Taylor states: "Basketball is very contact and very aggressive and it's like nitty-gritty. Volleyball it's more of a mental game, so that brings out both of those worlds,” explained Taylor, who uses both of her sports’ habilities when she enters the court.

She struggles with deciding on one game or the other: “Right now, I'm still trying to decide. I want to test it out.”

This is certainly an eye-catching story amid the FIBA AmeriCup Argentina 2017.

FIBA