Back in her native Nigeria, Felicia Aiyeotan has two brothers, one younger and one older. Asked if her brothers are tall, too, Aiyeotan laughed.

"No, they're tiny!" she said.

In reality, her older brother stands around 6-4, which speaks to the vantage point from which Aiyeotan surveys the world. At 6-9, she's one of the tallest players in women's basketball, at any level.

Aiyeotan, already fluent in English, came to the United States before the ninth grade and, while living with a host family, spent three years at Neumann Goretti High in Philadelphia.

She finished high school at Blair Academy in New Jersey, where she was a boarding student in 2015-16, and then enrolled this month at the University of Virginia. One of four newcomers in head coach Joanne Boyle's program -- the others are 6-3 Lisa Jablonowski, 5-9 Dominique Toussaint and 6-0 Jocelyn Willoughby -- Aiyeotan is an intriguing addition to a frontcourt that's been one of the ACC's smallest in recent years.

"You can't teach size, and I think she's come a really long way in the last four years playing in the States," Boyle said. "Strength is going to be her thing. In this conference, can she hold off stronger players and play against physicality?"

Aiyeotan, whose maternal grandfather stood 7-1, was 6-5 by the time she was 12 years old. She reached her current height in the 10th grade. Growing up, she said, it was not easy being taller than the other girls in Lagos.

"I was trying to hide myself and trying to make myself seem unnoticed, because when I was home in Nigeria back then, I would get made fun of, because I was totally different," Aiyeotan recalled. "I was really skinny, and it was just hard for me to fit. That's why I shied away from sport at first. But coming into America and seeing how people really care about me and are so excited about who I am and my height, and not discouraging, I got comfortable with myself, and I feel free."

On Virginia's 2016-17 roster, Aiyeotan is one of five players listed at 6-3 or taller, along with Jablonowski (6-3), redshirt freshman Shakyna Payne (6-3), and sophomores Debra Ferguson (6-4) and Moné Jones (6-3). The Wahoos' other post players include 6-2 juniors Jae'Lisa Allen and Lauren Moses, who led the team in rebounds (6.9 per game) in 2015-16.

http://www.virginiasports.com/sports/w-baskbl/spec-rel/062116aab.html

she's on a long thing.

I love them dark

It feels so natural to have dark women around...

I no even tall @all

fernandez1:
I no even tall @all

She's a giantess

xedyl:
she's on a long thing.

Literally