BROOKLYN, N.Y. - LIU Brooklyn women's basketball alums Letava and Mickaelar Whippy have been selected to compete for their native country of Fiji at the upcoming XV Pacific Games in Papua, New Guinea on July 3-18. Mickaelar, who played with the Blackbirds from 2004-08, will join her younger sister Letava who recently completed her eligibilty at LIU Brooklyn in 2014-15.
A four-year letterwinner at LIU Brooklyn, Mickaelar finished her four-year career ranked 19th on the career scoring list with 952 points. She closed seventh in career assists with 285 and also pulled down 416 rebounds to rank in the top 25 in Blackbirds history.
Similar to her sister, Letava was a jack of all trades on the basketball court, tallying 624 points, 549 rebounds, 203 assists and 177 steals during four seasons with LIU. The steals total ranks ninth on LIU's career list while the rebounding numbers are good for 15th place in school history.
A total of 24 countries will take part in the 2015 Pacific Games. For the first time in the history of the games, Australia and New Zealand will participate in four sports; sailing, taekwondo, rugby sevens and weightlifting. The basketball portion of the competition July 3 and runs through July 12, with the finals of both men's and women's basketball being played on the same day.
The Fiji women's basketball team, also featuring LIU Brooklyn 1,000-point scorer and former Northeast Conference Player of the Year Valerie Nainima, starts its campaign against New Caledonia on July 5.