(SOURCE: hometownsource.com. Written by Mike Shaughnessy)
Helping Rosemount win its first state girls basketball championship is one thing sisters Amisha, Arshia and Ashna Ramlall would like to accomplish before finishing high school.
But there’s more. They also want to have a role in putting Guyana women’s basketball on the map, and they’re already on their way.
Imagine a high school team having three players on the roster who also are members of their country’s national squad. Actually, it’s not that difficult to picture because that’s what Rosemount has this season.
In mid-November, while the Irish were going through their first week of fall practice, the Ramlall sisters were in Guyana to play in the FIBA (Fédération Internationale de Basketball) Caribbean Women’s Championship. Guyana finished second in the five-team tournament.
It was a big deal in Guyana, big enough that President Irfaan Ali took to social media to congratulate the team. Guyana was 119th out of 120 in the FIBA women’s world ranking and was the lowest-ranked team in the Caribbean Women’s Championship.
The second-place finish gave the team a place in the Women’s Centrobasket tournament next summer in Mexico, and the Ramlall sisters said they are hoping to play. Teams from Central America and the Caribbean play in the Centrobasket, which is another rung on the ladder toward Olympic qualification.
Desire to inspire
Guyana is a long, long way from making the Olympics in women’s basketball, but the Ramlall sisters said they want to at least help get the ball rolling.
“The goal is to inspire other kids, other girls that will look up to us, watch us play and say, wow, we can do this too. Let’s give it a shot,” said Amisha Ramlall, who was named to the tournament’s five-player all-star team.
Ashna Ramlall said the basketball team’s success means more visibility for Guyana, a nation of about 835,000 people on the north coast of South America. The country already is experiencing rapid economic growth fueled by an oil boom.
“Guyana is on the rise as a country,” Ashna said. “It has one of the fastest-growing economies in the entire world. Sports are on the rise there too, and hopefully there’s a lot more to come.”
The Ramlall sisters– and older brother Anish, a basketball star at Rosemount who now plays at St. Cloud State– were born in Minnesota and hold dual citizenship because their parents, Sunil and Dhanmati, were born in Guyana.
The parents moved to Minnesota in the 1990s and are college educators. Anish is a member of Guyana’s men’s national basketball team.
Twins Amisha and Arshia are 17 and juniors at Rosemount High. Ashna just turned 16 and is a sophomore. Their shooting prowess as youth players was common knowledge to Rosemount basketball followers, and they started seeing some varsity minutes in 2022-23, when Amisha and Arshia were eighth-graders and Ashna was in seventh.
Last season, Amisha had a team-high 21-point scoring average for the Irish while Ashna averaged 17.5 and Arshia averaged 6.3.
Major adjustments
They were among the youngest athletes in the Caribbean Women’s Championship, which had a number of current professional and former college players. For the Ramlall sisters, the adjustments were significant.
“A lot more physical,” Arshia said. “You’ve got to be tough on your feet playing defense and offense. The physicality is a lot different.”
“In high school, we’re playing against girls our own age,” Ashna added. “In Guyana, we were playing against 20-year-olds and 30-year-olds.”
Amisha started all four games and averaged 31.7 minutes in the Caribbean Women’s Championship. She was her team’s second-leading scorer, averaging 19.3 points. Ashna also started every game, averaging 9.9 points, four rebounds and 2.3 assists. Arshia came off the bench, averaging 25.7 minutes and seven points per game.
Guyana defeated Bahamas 102-75 in its opening game as Amisha Ramlall scored 33 points on 13-for-17 shooting. Arshia had 13 points and Ashna 12. Eventual tournament champion Virgin Islands downed Guyana 78-54 in the second round, but Guyana closed the tournament with victories over Suriname (106-42) and Jamaica 83-74.
Back to Rosemount
The sisters then returned to Minnesota to contribute to Rosemount’s fast start. Amisha scored 33 points in a season-opening 91-75 victory over Champlin Park. The Irish, tied with Lakeville North for third in the most recent Class 4A state rankings, defeated fifth-ranked Wayzata 61-56 at the Breakdown Tip-Off Classic Nov. 22, then routed Woodbury 92-59 on Nov. 25. Their next game is Tuesday, Dec. 9, at home against Centennial.
“Our group’s really deep,” Amisha said. “Our main strength is our offense, and one thing we have to work on is our defense. But we’re a lot like a family, and we have that chemistry.”
Wayzata was a key checkpoint, even though it was just the second game of the season. “They’ve been one of the top teams in (Class) 4A for many years, and I think beating them shows the sky’s the limit for us,” Ashna said.
Basketball background
Their father played cricket in Guyana, but the Ramlall parents had no background in basketball. They introduced their children to multiple sports, but all of them decided basketball best fit their competitive nature.
“Our brother started playing basketball first,” Arshia said. “We were put into a bunch of sports, and all of us gravitated toward basketball. We loved it and just stuck with it.”
“As siblings, the four of us always competed against each other,” Amisha added. “We pushed each other, especially in basketball, and it just skyrocketed from there. We had so much fun with it, and now here we are.”
Like their older brother, the sisters also are expected to have a future in college basketball. Amisha verbally committed to Minnesota in November 2024. Ashna is attracting Division I interest and has an offer from Creighton, which has had several South Suburban Conference players on its roster. Arshia is being contacted by Division II and III programs, including Minnesota Duluth.
They also want to keep their connection to international basketball and their parents’ home country.
“We have a lot of family there, and it’s fun to have the opportunity to play in front of them,” Ashna said. “We want to give back our talent, especially to young girls who’ve never had the opportunity to play, or thought they didn’t even have options.”
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