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Foreign athletes
Ticha Penicheiro
In soccer-mad Portugal, Penicheiro's small hometown of Figueira da Foz was a rare hoops haven. She was drawn to the blacktop at age 6; by 15, she was on the junior national team. That's when the point guard met Allison Greene, an American playing for one of the local pro teams who went on to serve as an assistant coach at Old Dominion. Which is how Penicheiro ended up in Virginia and how the Lady Monarchs ended up in the 1997 NCAA championship game (where they lost to Tennessee). She was the first international player to capture the Wade Trophy, before building a WNBA career that earned her a nod last year as one of the top 15 players in league history. Penicheiro once called Portugal "a small country with no basketball culture." Thanks to her, she's now only half right.
