South Carolina star Kamilla Cardoso’s 4,000-mile journey to the top

Kamilla Cardoso arrived at the airport about three days after her 15th birthday.

All of her friends from her hometown in Brazil had come with her for a makeshift sendoff party. So had her former basketball coaches, along with, of course, her mother, Janete Soares, and her older sister, Jessica Silva.

When it came time to say goodbye, Cardoso knew that if she bid farewell to everyone in her circle individually, she’d start crying. So she said an all-encompassing group goodbye to her friends and coaches — ‘Bye everybody! I love y’all!,’ she sang in Portuguese. She saved the final minutes before boarding for her mother and sister.

The three of them had always been so close in Montes Claros. Like most younger sisters, Cardoso enjoyed tagging along to Silva’s various sports practices. And like any parent, Soares had questions galore when her baby floated the idea of moving 4,000-plus miles away — solo — to play high school basketball in Tennessee with hopes of eventually pursuing a WNBA career. Would Cardoso be secure and cared for? Would she have people to support her? Was this plan trustworthy?

“OK,” an emotional Cardoso told Soares and Silva on that 2016 day, bracing herself to board. “I’ve gotta go. Otherwise, I won’t be able to get on this plane.”

As…