Canada's Amihere 'excited' for WNBA draft, opportunity to grow on pro level

The moment is starting to feel all the more real for Laeticia Amihere.

The Mississauga, Ont., native recently completed her final season with NCAA powerhouse South Carolina Gamecocks and entered her name on Tuesday for the upcoming WNBA draft.

"I think it hit me when I started packing up my room," she told The Canadian Press. "And I remember just looking at how empty my walls were and I don't remember seeing my room look like that since freshman year since I first moved in.

"It's just emotions all over, just kind of trying to prepare myself for the next level, but also kind of just soak in every moment that I have here with my teammates and my friends and kind of everybody that I kind of feel the relationship with in the past four years."

The six-foot-four forward says she has been invited to New York for Monday's draft and plans to attend alongside her parents, Georgette and Anthony, and brother Benson.

"I'm just gonna be excited and waiting to hear my name," she said. "It's gonna be a lot of anticipation."

The opportunity to build on her potential and show more of her game also excites her.

WATCH | Amihere preparing for draft:

"I think just showing a little bit more of my bag. I haven't been able to show more of my offensive tools at South Carolina," she said. "So I'm just excited to show a little bit more of that, just, you know, my mid-range game and being able to score on three levels."

Amihere averaged a career-best 7.1 points, along with 3.4 rebounds, 1.1 blocks and 15.9 minutes across 36 games this season. She came off the bench for a stacked South Carolina squad that won the national title in 2022 and lost in the Final Four this year.

Although her numbers don't jump out at people, Amihere's impact goes beyond