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'Our beautiful Brazilian girl': South Carolina's Kamilla Cardoso endears while dominating
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- 'Our beautiful Brazilian girl': South Carolina's Kamilla Cardoso endears while dominating
CLEVELAND — Kamilla Cardoso arrived in the United States from Brazil at the age of 15 being able to speak about three words of English. Even now, as the South Carolina All-America senior center prepares to play in her second national championship game Sunday against Iowa , she's not one to stand in front of the microphone and talk a lot.
By not talk a lot, that means, not hardly talk at all. Cardoso — despite being arguably their biggest star, and not just because of her 6-foot-7 frame and long, red locks — wasn't among the five players from the undefeated Gamecocks who were available during Saturday's pre-title game availability at Rocket Mortgage Field House.
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That Cardoso, though, isn't the one her South Carolina teammates have come to know and love over the last three seasons since she arrived as a transfer from Syracuse after her freshman year. Yet, even they'll acknowledge that she can put up a shell that can be tough to crack, but the effort is worth the work.
"Camilla, she's so goofy," sophomore guard Raven Johnson said Saturday. "I mean, she's a sweetheart, but she does like to be alone a lot. I mean, she's funny. People don't really know who she is until you really get to know her. I mean, it is hard to get to know her because she don't really open up to a lot of people. But if you really get to know her, she's funny. She's soft spoken. I mean, she's genuine and she's very loving."
Johnson learned that in her first season with the Gamecocks a year ago. It came from the most innocent of events, a shared experience watching the Brazilian soccer team lose in the World Cup last fall.
Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; South Carolina Gamecocks guard Raven Johnson (25) and center Kamilla Cardoso (10) react in the third quarter against the NC State Wolfpack in the semifinals of the Final Four of the womens 2024 NCAA Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-USA TODAY Sports
That's when Johnson learned of the inner Cardoso, the one that, despite several years now acclimating to her new surroundings, will never forget where she came from.
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"When they lost, she cried and I asked her, 'Why are you crying?'" Johnson recalled. "And she was telling me, 'Brazil, my team lost this,' and how soccer's big over there. She was just telling me stuff like that. She's really big on her hometown. She always talking about Brazil and how much she loved Brazil, that I should come out there and visit it because it's better than America. …. I'm just excited that she's putting her hometown on the map, and Camilla, she wants to have, she's having fun. I'm just glad she's doing it here and especially with me."
There may be a bit of a language barrier for Cardoso to deal with, even among her teammates. There may even be a small cultural gap to overcome.
There has been no bridge that has spanned any of those potential gaps quick like the one created by basketball. Cardoso's fit right in with the rest of the Gamecocks in that regard over the last three seasons.
It was Cardoso who provided the spark that, at the least, allowed South Carolina to hold the lead going into halftime over North Carolina State in Friday's semifinals. She scored the Gamecocks' first 12 second-quarter points on her way to a game-high 22 points, despite suffering an ankle injury late in the first half.
Apr 5, 2024; Cleveland, OH, USA; ISouth Carolina Gamecocks center Kamilla Cardoso (10) shoots the ball over NC State Wolfpack forward Mimi Collins (2) in the semifinals of the Final Four of the womens 2024 NCAA Tournament at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse. Mandatory Credit: Ken Blaze-USA TODAY Sports
It's the second time in the last three NCAA tournament games Cardoso has scored 22 points, the fifth South Carolina player to accomplish the feat. She's averaging 17 points on 68.2% shooting over four tournament games, having been suspended for the tournament opener against No. 16 seed Presbyterian for her role in a scuffle with LSU in the SEC Tournament championship game.
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"She means so much," senior guard Te-Hina Paopao said. "Her presence inside has done so much for us. Seeing her growth over the season has been so much fun to watch and experience with her. Coming into the summer, she wasn't really looking to dominate ... like she is now. It's a great sight to see. I'm really excited for her journey."
That journey has brought a little of her home country to her adopted home. It goes beyond taking a World Cup loss hard or bragging up her hometown of Montes Claros, Brazil.
Cardoso brings it to the court with the enthusiasm she approaches each game, even well before the game begins. You can find her dancing, playing soccer or even trying to hit the scoreboard above the court, as she tried to do before the semifinal against the Wolfpack.
"She's our beautiful Brazilian girl," Paopao said. "She's just amazing to be around. She's light. She's always funny, always energetic, always smiling. She's just a loving person. She's an amazing person, and I'm really fortunate to have someone like her in my corner and someone on our team. She just keeps everything light but also tells us to lock in. Hearing her voice and being a leader is something that I've always admired."
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Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ .
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Kamilla Cardoso 'dominates' for South Carolina despite soft spoken way
