She was in an unfamiliar country and spoke only halting English, what little she'd picked up from older sister Marina's two years of living and working in Baton Rouge. She'd already missed the first half of the 2001-02 basketball season.
When Anna Petrakova, her sister and then-USL women's coach Gay Nix walked into former academic coordinator Danny Cottonham's office before the 2002 spring semester, Cottonham was uncertain to say the least.
"She'd just turned 17 the month prior and it was my job to get her registered and enrolled in classes for that semester," Cottonham said. "I was not very optimistic about Anna's future.