Texas Tech University Athletics
FEATURE: A sisterly bond that led to basketball
September 04, 2024 | Women's Basketball
Growing up in the Sanogo household meant there were never any dull moments. With nine members in the family living in Paris, France, 19-year-old Sarengbe, or “Sara” for short, always had something to do… And most of the time, that something would be done with her older sister, Mariam.
Mariam, or “Mimi” as Sara calls her, is just 15 months and one day older than her, and they are just as close on a personal level. They do everything together, and that includes playing the sport of basketball.
When they were just kids, Sara got into tennis for a couple of years. During that time, Sara and Mimi’s mother was pregnant and couldn’t always take Sara to her tennis lessons, so she would drive with Mimi and her basketball coach to practice. Thanks to Mimi, this was how Sara discovered the game.
Sara put down the tennis racket and eventually picked up the orange ball, playing for fun and having a great time competing with her sister starting around the age of nine. Sara played basketball for almost 10 years before realizing she can compete at a higher level, and to do that, she came to America…
With her sister of course.
“I was playing for fun and really just to play with my sister because that was important for me to share something with her,” Sara said. “Then, I never thought about going overseas to play basketball, but she wanted to leave so bad… Like this is America, we have a lot of opportunities here. I don’t know if it’s more than Europe in general, but there’s more opportunity in America than in France.”
Mimi ended up taking a gap year to focus on her studies before coming to America to play basketball. It was around that same time that Sara finished her schooling in France, so they left together.
“So, she was leaving, and I wanted to be with her. Then when I came here, I started to have the urgency to understand that basketball is my life. This is what I want my life to be in the future,” Sara said.
Even though they are different in age, both Sara and Mimi started their college experience as freshmen at Northwest Kansas Technical College in 2022 before heading to Odessa College in 2023 for their sophomore stints. While with the Wranglers, Sara and Mimi helped the team to 30 wins and an Elite 8 appearance in the national tournament. Sara had a breakout year, averaging 11.3 points per game and 6.1 rebounds per game through 32 appearances to earn NJCAA Division I Honorable Mention All-American and WJCAC Co-Newcomer of the Year accolades.
Playing with her sister for those two seasons was something Sara never took for granted, enjoying every single moment she had on and off the court with Mimi. With a quiet and reserved temperament, Mimi helped Sara break out of her shell and out of her comfort zone.
“Mimi and I are sisters, but I feel like we are very different. She’s a version of me that I want to be, and I am a version of her that she wants to be, too,” Sara said. “The fact that I’m calm… She wants to be calm like that because she’s not. And the fact that she’s crazy, I want to be like her, too. She’s crazy not in a bad way, but she’s not scared or ashamed to do something, and I’m not like this.”
The Sanogo Sisters planned to transfer once more, this time to play at the Division I level. But, things didn’t pan out the way they were hoping. After entering the transfer portal, the two wanted to go somewhere together like they’ve always done, but only a few spots were open. Because of this, Sara found her way up the road to Texas Tech, while Mimi was heading northeast to Buffalo to play at Canisius.
“The fact that me and Mimi were separated, first of all, I was sad because I really thought we would go together because we had some offers together, but they weren’t the offers we were looking for. We visited some of them and we kind of liked the team, the environment, but that wasn’t the offer we were looking for, so we had to separate,” Sara said. “I was sad, but at the end of the day, I’m like, this is okay. This is just a step because we are separated now, but we know we’re going to get back together… Like if it’s not in the WNBA or if we go pro before or after college, but this is like, we are kind of separated for now to get better.”
The recruiting process was one that Sara and Mimi once again did together, helping each other find the best school and fit for them personally and for their basketball careers.
“It was really hard because we wanted to go together, but all the teams who wanted us, wanted us separately… Some teams wanted me and some teams wanted Mimi. We were talking with them and looking for them, because we were really looking to be together, and we thought we could do it. At the end of the day, we saw that we could not do it, so we had to separate, but we were together along the process. Like every time I visited one school, she was with me, and when she visited one school, I was with her. We did everything together, so we could find the best for each other,” Sara said.
When we visited here, that was at the end of the year actually, so we had a one-day visit. It was quick, but it was fun. We had Coach Marija and Coach Q who went with us and I was happy because I felt like they were really interested in helping us through the process. I connected with Coach DeRoo first to come to Texas Tech, and then I met all the other coaches here on the visits.
Though this may be the first time Sara has had to play collegiate basketball in America without her sister, there is one familiar face in Lubbock who she can turn to for anything. While at Odessa, Sara was teammates with Ivana Krajina before both transferred to Texas Tech this summer and are already rooming together in an apartment.
“With Ivana, I like the fact that I’ve been with her because I feel like if I were alone, I would stay in my room. I’m very shy, so it is hard for me… Not to connect with the team but to do extra activities, you know. I only play basketball and then I go back to my room, and to classes and stuff like this. I’ve been like this when I was in France because I don’t very much like to do extra activity with people I don’t know. But the fact that Ivana is here, I like it because we’re going to be together, and even if we’re not, I feel like I have security because if I need some help, I know she would help me. But the fact that this is Ivana, this is important for me,” Sara said.
“I feel like me and Ivana, we are close because we are international, and we play on the same team, obviously. Sometimes we understand each other better than others. I mean for myself, I don’t know for her, but I like the fact that she’s a guard and I’m a big because when we play together, we really have a connection,” added Sara.
And connections are important for Sara and her family, especially as one of seven siblings living in Paris. Mimi, who is 21, is the oldest while their youngest sibling is just five years old.
“It was a war with everybody at home and we just fought all the time. But we had some time where we felt like we’re family, we took care of each other, and we were never bored. We always had something to do with the little ones and the big ones. Sometimes we wanted to make stuff for our parents to be proud of us, just to make them happy. Sometimes we messed up. This is very funny, like to live around siblings and not be alone,” Sara said.
Growing up in an apartment with nine people was something Sara was used to, so her and Mimi decided they were going to pursue a business degree in college in hopes to come up with a plan to improve living conditions for large families in France.
“We always had an idea when we grew up together that we wanted to make a family business,” Sara said. “So, we kind of kept going this way and now this year we’re both studying international business. Even if we’re not in the same school, we get the same study. We had an idea for our business because we’re a big family. In France, you can say big family is five people – two parents and three children. This is a big family for them. We grew up in an apartment that was made for a big family, but this was kind of little for us. We know a lot of people who were in the same case as us or still are, so we wanted to make an apartment for a big family actually and then rent it. It wasn’t that hard for us because we didn’t pay attention to the environment around us when we grew up, but it’s more for other people. For some of our friends, it’s hard. So, we just want to take our experiment to make people better.”
Coming to America, Sara had learned pretty quickly how different the two countries’ cultures were. But, she embraces the West Texas family and cannot wait to play in front of Lady Raider faithful.
“You know the cliché in France that people are mad, speed around, and stuff like this… That’s true. And here in America, everybody’s nice and takes their time. Sometimes you can walk and talk with strangers, you don’t even know them but you just talk. I like that because it feels like we are a community, and you feel the connection. Even if they don’t know you, they want to know you, they want to take the time, and I like this,” Sara said.
The 6-3 junior forward is finally here in Lubbock and is eager to suit up in the Scarlet and Black.
“I feel like my game is more around the rim. I know some bigs are more around the three-point line, but this is not my game. I can’t explain it, but I feel better around the rim. I feel like my strength is defense because I know I have the ability; I have long arms and stuff for defense so I can defend on bigs, too. I feel like I’ve always been in there next to the rim, so that is all I know.”
