Mississippi State’s Congo contingent finds strength in numbers while playing in the US

Miss State roster features Congo contingent

JACKSON, Miss. — Mississippi State’s Chanel Mokango, Armelie Lumanu and Rima Kalonda have something that Africans playing basketball in America rarely enjoy.

They have friends from home — each other.

“We’re sisters, like sisters,” Mokango said.

In fact, the trio are an anomaly in a couple of ways.

While the stream of African boys coming to America to play basketball is on the rise, girls are making the journey at a much lower rate. Scouts seek out boys, hold camps in Africa and help pave the way to a high school or college in the states with scholarships and travel money.

An African player is a rare find on a women’s basketball roster, let alone three. Just a few dozen play basketball in the NCAA, NAIA or junior college levels, and only two are in the WNBA.

Of those who do make it, most go it alone, learning a language, a sport and a culture on their own. Mississippi State’s Congo contingent have each other to lean on.

They share a hometown and country. They share a common background and language. They share laughter and loneliness, the latter diminished but not extinguished by their friendship.

None of the three players expected to end up in the U.S.

They only landed here after a friend passed then-Southeastern Illinois College coach Greg Franklin a tape of the Congolese national team.

Franklin had experience with international players and took a chance on contacting the women, who joined the national team as young as 16. They jumped at the chance to come to America, and not just because they wanted to play basketball.

“It’s big for me to get a U.S. degree,” Kolanda said. “I’m not worried about basketball. I’m worried first about my degree. I could get a knee injury and say I’m not going to play basketball no more. But if I get my degree, I can go to work.”

Another byproduct of their move to the U.S. is the example it sets for other girls back home who might have the talent to play college or professional ball. As in the U.S., women’s basketball in Africa is limited by the amount of money it draws. In some areas, it is starting thrive. The Congolese players hope they’re just a first wave.

“That’s why I’m here,” Kolanda said.

Playing college basketball obviously benefits the Congolese players.

But their presence also benefits the Bulldogs. With Mokango and Lumanu in the starting lineup and each averaging just more than 10 points per game, Mississippi State played its way into the second round of the NCAA tournament last season. The players expect similar results in 2009-10, their senior year, when Kolanda will be vying for a starting position as well.

The women followed Franklin to Starkville when he joined coach Sharon Fanning’s staff. While they all grew up in Kinshasha, they didn’t know each other until they started playing basketball. Each came to the sport in a different way.

Lumanu, a 5-foot-9 guard, didn’t start playing until high school. The 6-5 Mokango resisted for a long time before finally giving in at 15 to those who insisted someone so tall should be throwing a ball through a hoop.

“I said, ‘Well, I’ll try,’ and when I stopped they said, ‘Good, you do this,’” Mokango said. “So I kept playing.”

Kolanda joined a club team after her step sister noticed her seeming boundless energy and recommended the sport to Kolanda’s father. She got her start around the age of 11.

“My daddy’s a boxer, so when my daddy practiced I would practice with my daddy, so I would grow up like a man, so strong,” the 6-3 Kolanda said. “I liked to run and play and fight with people. My step sister she saw me strong and just running for no reason.”

All three say basketball is much different than it is at home. There is more of an emphasis on conditioning and weightlifting for a start, they said.

“They still have a lot to learn but I think this year will be a good one for them,” Fanning said. “One of the biggest things coming in was just the language barrier and they’ve made tremendous strides just in the last year. When they came to us they really couldn’t speak English very well at all. As you communicate better and understand better, you get better.”

That language barrier existed off the court, too, sometimes turning even the most simple discussions into ordeals.

Coaches are allowed to cook a meal for the team once in a while, so Fanning asked the Congolese players what they wanted to eat.

“I kept trying to ask Rima what she likes and she kept saying, ‘Spanish,’” Fanning said.

Fanning assumed Rima meant some dish popular in Spain. To find out, Fanning had the players cook for her — they served her spinach.

For three years, Mokango, Lumanu and Kolanda have relied on teammates and friends to act as a surrogate family. The players often find themselves daydreaming about the simple pleasures of family life. Mokango can’t wait to again sit down to a meal of ribs and plantains prepared like mashed potatoes by her mother. And Kolanda would like to wrap her arms around her father “because I’m a daddy’s girl.”

“I miss my friends, I miss food,” Kolanda said. “I miss everything. It’s a lot. I miss just everything.”

They say the journey is worth it, though, and each is making strides toward their goals.

“If you could’ve seen them the first day they got here and the progress they’ve made, it’s astonishing,” Franklin said.