A pair of Florida natives will compete in team events on Monday. Basketball player Sylvia Fowles suits up in Team USA's second game of round-robin play against Angola, while volleyball player Foluke Akinradewo and Team USA play Brazil.

Fowles grew up in Miami, attending Edison Sr. High and graduating from Gulliver Prep. She led Edison to two state basketball championships. After attending LSU and winning an SEC Player of the Year award, she was the second pick in the 2008 WNBA Draft, selected by the Chicago Sky.

Like their male counterparts, the Team USA Women are favored - and expect - to win gold. The ladies handled Croatia with ease in their first game Saturday, an 81-56 win. Fowles scored two points and pulled in 3 rebounds off the bench.

South Florida Coverage of the 2012 Olympics

Fowles won gold with Team USA in the 2008 Beijing games. This year in London, she is part of a formidable center rotation that includes Candace Parker and Tina Charles.

"We're going to get better as we go along," Fowles told WAFB Baton Rouge of the trio. "London will be beautiful to have me, Tina and Candace together. Once we start getting more comfortable with each other, that high-low post game will be dangerous."

Like the basketball team, the Women's Volleyball team looks to go to 2-0 when they play Monday, having defeated South Korea 3-2 on Saturday. Middle blocker Foluke Akinradewo was born in Ontario and attended St. Thomas Aquinas in Ft. Lauderdale, where she was a two-time All-American and three-time All-State.

She had never played organized volleyball until she attended St. Thomas. "I really resisted playing in high school, and I was horrible at it when I started, but I ended up loving it," she told the Miami Herald on Tuesday.

Akinradewo also played basketball and ran track, but played volleyball exclusively at Stanford University, where she was a two-time Pac-10 Player of the Year and led the Cardinal to three National Championship matches.

Holding a tri-citizenship in Canada and Nigeria as well as the U.S., Akinradewo was an alternate on the 2008 Olympic team. Team USA won a silver medal in Beijing, and hopes to win its first ever gold in London. The team won the 2012 Grand Prix and is currently ranked number one in the world by FIVB.

Akinradewo had 9 blocks and 6 spikes in Team USA's opening win against South Korea, third most on the team with 15 points. She won MVP and Best Blocker in the 2010 Grand Prix, when Team USA won a gold. She will be key to their fortunes in London.

USA Women's Basketball plays at 5:15 EDT, Women's Volleyball plays at 11:45am EDT.

 

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