Prahalis banks international experience
Photo credit: Newsday/Joseph D. Sullivan | Former Commack standout Sammy Prahalis (left).
For a few hours, the letters got to them.
The big, red "USA" printed on their chests gave them a false sense of confidence.
For Sammy Prahalis, a Commack High School product and standout guard at Ohio State University, it was no different. But just as the players on the U.S. women's basketball team got ready for its ''coronation'' in the FIBA Under-19 World Championships in Bangkok, Thailand, their counterparts from Spain decided to let them know they were far from home.
"I think that we, just for a second, kind of took advantage that we were USA," Prahalis said of her team's four-point upset loss on the opening day of the tournament. "Not that we're automatically going to beat everybody, but that we have an advantage over everybody already. But it was kind of a wake-up call that we have to come out ready."
Seven games - and seven wins - after that humbling loss, Prahalis dropped 21 points on Spain in an 87-71 victory Aug. 2, securing the gold medal for Team USA.
"It's real big, because when you go over there, you just know that every team is going to do whatever they have to do to beat us," Prahalis said. "Everyone wants to see you lose, and I like that. We're considered the best, and everyone's going to give us their best shot.
"I was really happy because I really didn't want to leave having lost and having that team go home and say they beat us."
Prahalis speaks fondly of her time in Bangkok, but she still sounds jet-lagged when talking about the 22-hour flight that brought her there.
"I don't like planes to begin with, and then it was just so big," she said. "Takeoff - it took a lot to get that plane off the ground. I get nervous on all flights and now I'm taking a seven-hour one and then an 11-hour one. I don't like being up in the air and not knowing what's going on."
Once she got on the ground, the culture shock set in. She called her family, only to realize it was the middle of the night in America. She tried getting on a team bus but couldn't find the door, discovering that in Thailand, bus entrances are on the opposite side from the American models.
"It was crazy because I was on the other side of the world; there's pigs going through garbage, they drive on the wrong . . . " She paused to correct herself. "The other side of the road. It's a big city, so in a way, I'm used to it, but it's so different."
After winning the Big Ten Tournament this past season and advancing to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, Prahalis is hoping for a national title in her sophomore year at Ohio State. She thinks her experience playing for Team USA will aid her in that goal.
"Playing with different kids that go to different colleges, it's a good experience to mesh with other personalities," she said. "It's kind of like college; you have other personalities around you, so you're constantly getting better."
