Lynsey Prosser, a senior guard on the Augustana women's basketball team, has been selected to play for the USA D-2 women's basketball team in Brazil, and below she shares her experience

My Brazilian adventure is now in full swing! We arrived into Campinas International Airport Tuesday morning at 6:30 am local time after a grueling eight-and-a-half-hour flight. With nearly all of us suffering of sleep deprivation, we didn't make it to our hotel until nearly 9:30 a.m. Luckily, we were fed a delicious breakfast and given a little bit of rest time before practice at 11:00 on our first day in Brazil.

Everyone knows that vacations and trips hardly ever go exactly as planned, and we learned this very quickly; before we even flew out of Orlando. The coaches assigned to the women's team for our Brazilian trip, Dave and Tammy Slifer from the University of Central Missouri (reigning national champs), were not able to board the plane with us due to an unexpected emergency. So right off the bat we experienced adversity. Ultimately us players were all pretty bummed, but we knew we couldn't let that take away from our Brazilian experience, so we marched on with positive and excited attitudes.

This did leave a few question marks for our first practice, however. Who was going to coach us? Thankfully Ron Smith, coordinator of USA Sports Tours and Events, doesn't seem to travel without a backup plan. He and Robert Corn, former men's basketball coach at Missouri Southern State University, have traveled together on this trip several times. Coach Corn is now retired but had a prolific career as a head coach and is a basketball hall of famer. He was very gracious and willing to take over as our head coach here in Brazil, despite lack of experience coaching women's basketball. We knew we were in good hands.

Our first practice was exciting as we got to know eachother as players and experience the challenges the court presented us. And I mean this literally. The three-point line in Brazil is about a foot further than the college line in the United States. While this doesn't seem like much, it was a big challenge for most of us to adjust to that range. This also means that the three-point line and out of bounds line are quite close together, making it all too easy to step on the line and turn the ball over (something that caught us a few times in our first two games). Another big difference is the width of the lane. It is at least a foot wider on either side.

Being extremely exhausted, newly acquainted to eachother and the court, and each of us a wee bit out of tip top shape, our practice was about as good as it could have been. We jumped into shooting drills, passing drills, set plays, and scrimmaging. I could tell immediately that the talent level of this team was impressive, and I was and still am humbled to be a part of this group. Among my teammates are fellow NSIC players, Megan Hintz (Moorhead), Brianna Kusler (Northern) and Sammy Kozlowski (Duluth). Then there are five girls from the MIAA conference including Taylor Rolfs (Fort Hayes), Reagan Phelan (Washburn), Morgan Fleming, Megan Skaggs, and Sydney Crockett (Central Missouri). Then we've got Katie Speegle from University of Alabama Huntsville in the Gulf South Conference. The ten of us make up quite a well-rounded team and I've enjoyed playing with them and getting to experience their talents on the court so far.

On Wednesday, we finally got a taste of what we've been anticipating for so many months, some real international competition. None of us really knew what to expect but we were all very excited. We played in the city of Osasco against a U19 club team. We exchanged gifts and took pictures with the team before-hand, then we tipped off.

These girls were obviously very athletic, and their speed and agility were really impressive. Their physicality was also unexpected. The international game is tough, and we weren't expecting to get shoved around as much as we did. It was all a bit of a shock and I think the first quarter reflected that. We were struggling. But we were competing too. We were actually leading most of the game until the fourth quarter. I can't exactly say for sure what it was, but we just couldn't quite get a grasp on everything in that final quarter. New country, new teammates, new rules; we just weren't quite clicking in the way we needed to in order to win the game. We ended up losing 66-59. Despite the loss, I had a blast. It's so surreal to be here and I was so happy to finally have the opportunity to play on a Brazilian court. After the game we exchanged some of our college t-shirts with the team, and the Brazilian players were so giving and kind. We had a lot of fun, but we knew we could have won, and we knew we could play way better together than what we showed. We had to look forward to Thursday's game, which happened to be against the Brazilian senior national team in Santo Andre Brazil. This team is one of nine professional teams in Brazil and have been playing and practicing together for years.

We were warned in advance that this team was compiled of grown women, many of whom are above the age of 25. We were told one of the post players was 39 years old and has played on this team for 20 years! We were all pretty nervous for this game, even more after we saw them warm up. These girls were BIG. In our pregame talk, we emphasized improving on what we did poorly the day before. Those things included patience on offense, stopping the dribble on defense, and communicating. As soon as we began playing, it seemed evident that we were all clicking together. We were doing more of the things we had talked about and were playing less like individuals and more like a team. This team was even more physical than the first team we played and about twice the size. We put in our best effort and made a lot of good plays, but we couldn't quite catch them as we lost 70-56. I'm proud of us for playing the way we did and focusing on the improvements we needed to make. If we had played like that on Wednesday, we definitely would have come out on top. I'm certain that a few more days of practice and a little more experience playing with eachother, those two games could have been ours.

One thing that Ron, our coordinator, mentioned is that we came here to be challenged. We didn't come to play easily beatable teams but instead to put forth our best effort and come together as a great team representing the United States here in Brazil. I think we've done that and I look forward to our final two games in Rio on Saturday and Sunday. One thing is for sure about this team, we are competitors and we don't like to lose. I'm confident for what's to come here in Brazil.

As far as the culture and overall experience, it has been so amazing and eye-opening to be around Brazil. The area we are in is super populated and we've seen a lot of poverty. It's humbling to see and understand the way Brazilian's live and makes me grateful for all the things I have. Everyone we have met has been so accommodating, giving, and kind, and I think that is one of my favorite parts of this trip so far. I've gotten to meet so many wonderful people. I also can't say enough about the food. We've gotten to eat so many delicious kinds of food here and I'm always looking forward to our next meal. It's crazy to think that we still have six more days here in Brazil and I look forward to all of what we have yet to experience. Thanks for following along!