Africa Beltran long had dreams of experiencing life in the United States.
Seeing movies and television shows portraying the U.S, while growing up in Granada, Spain, inspired those dreams for Beltran.
So when she received a scholarship to come to the U.S. as an exchange student, Beltran jumped on the opportunity. The experience so far has been memorable for Beltran as she’s enjoyed her time attending Bath High School.
What has made the experience even more special for Beltran is being able to continue one of her passions by playing basketball. And Beltran, who was voted the latest LSJ girls high school athlete of the week winner, has made a big mark on the basketball court for the Bees.
Beltran has played a significant role as the Bees headed into a CMAC showdown against Pewamo-Westphalia on Thursday, Jan. 15 with an 8-0 record. Her contributions have the Bees on track to increase their win total from a 2024-25 season where they finished 11-12.
“She’s been a big key to what we’ve done,” Bath coach Gabe Sowa said. “She kind of runs our point and runs our team. She’s such a great teammate and leader that she encourages girls. Her awareness and her knowledge and her basketball IQ is off the chart and her fundamentals — she’s so fundamentally sound.
“She has been a very big piece of what we’ve been doing this year. We’ve leaned heavily on her. We have some young guards. Her experience has really helped them feel more comfortable at the varsity level. It’s been huge for us.”
Beltran averaged 14.5 points and 7.0 rebounds for Bath as it posted CMAC victories over Lansing Christian and Saranac in its return to play following the holiday break. She has consistently scored in double figures for the Bees, which included a game with 31 points in December.
“I’m really, really happy that I’m part of Bath High School’s team and that I’m able to help them this season because we’re having a lot of fun,” Beltran said. “I have a great team and great teammates. It’s great.”
Beltran didn’t know what to expect this winter while playing basketball in a new country. But she was thrilled for the opportunity to keep playing.
“What I was hoping for was a team I could play (with) this season and just have fun and keep improving as a player every day and I got it,” Beltran said.
Beltran would love to return to the United States to play basketball in college after she returns back to Spain for her final year of high school. But the focus in the meantime for Beltran is helping the Bees keep building on their strong start to the season.
“I hope that we can play good games like we’ve been doing until now,” Beltran said. “I hope we can keep improving our game because we still have a lot of things to improve. I just hope we keep having a lot of fun and keep winning.”
Contact Brian Calloway at bcalloway@lsj.com. Follow him on X @brian_calloway and Bluesky @briancalloway.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Exchange student Africa Beltran sparking Bath girls basketball in strong start
Reporting by Brian Calloway, Lansing State Journal / Lansing State Journal
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