Bellport Girls Basketball

Bellport's Arella Guirantes heading to

Olympics with Puerto Rico basketball team

By Tess Ferguson                                              tess.ferguson@newsday.com

For Arella Guirantes, basketball has played every role in the book. Passion. Occupation. Lifestyle.

Her game has traveled from Bellport High School to Texas Tech and Rutgers, and then to the WNBA. Now, her court is getting even bigger. Guirantes is going to her first Olympics.

“Right now, everything feels like a once-in-a-lifetime experience,” Guirantes said. “I know that when I get there, everything will be so captivating. I put blood, sweat and tears into this. Being around hundreds, thousands of athletes who do the same thing will be really captivating.”

Guirantes has played for the Puerto Rican national team since 2017. She is eligible for the national team under FIBA guidelines because her grandfather was born in Puerto Rico. 

During the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament in February, Guirantes led her team in nearly every statistic. She averaged 15 points, 5.7 rebounds and 3.3 assists over three games.

“I’m a leader, I bring the energy that they need,” the 26-year-old Guirantes said. “They know that when I come here, I’m gonna handle my business every time I step on the floor. Luckily my team trusts me and over the years I’ve continued to build that trust with them.”

Puerto Rico's Arella Guirantes tries to get past United States' Kahleah Copper at the Women's Basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia, in 2022. Credit: AP/Mark Baker

Basketball runs in the Guirantes family. Her mother, Demetria, played high school basketball with former Liberty star Sue Wicks at Center Moriches High School and then played college basketball at Stony Brook. Her father, Robert, used to help coach the varsity and junior varsity boys teams at Bellport before taking over his daughter’s training.

Guirantes' sister, Talaya, just completed her first year at Five Towns College, where she averaged 19.6 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists. She is also a member of the Puerto Rican national team, though she is not on the Olympic roster.

Puerto Rico offered the sisters the opportunity to compete together for the first time since high school. They played together for Bellport’s varsity squad when Arella was a senior and Talaya was in seventh grade.

“She works so hard,” Talaya said. “She just doesn’t stop, this is really her job. I see firsthand how much effort she puts in, how much work she puts in, and I’m also there with her doing it. It’s awesome to see how much it’s all paying off for her. I mean, she’s going to be an Olympian. I’ll be there to cheer her on along the way.”

Before she punched her ticket to the Paris Olympics, Guirantes played two seasons in the WNBA. After completing her collegiate career at Rutgers, she was drafted 22nd overall by the Los Angeles Sparks in 2021. She played in 25 games, including two starts, in her rookie season for the Sparks, but was waived prior to the 2022 season. Guirantes then moved to the Seattle Storm for the 2023 season, appearing in nine games. She is now dedicating her time to Puerto Rico.

When Guirantes traveled to China for the qualifying tournament, her family was forced to play the waiting game. When the news finally rolled in, so did the emotions.

“We didn’t have the app to watch the qualifiers,” Demetria said. “She called me crying and when I asked if she’s all right, she just said, ‘Mom, we’re going to the Olympics.’ I just sat there and cried. I was so overjoyed just to know that I have an Olympian. I don’t even care if they win. She’ll always be an Olympian.”

Even when she was younger, Demetria could tell there was something special about Arella’s determination.

“Everything was work; it never came easy,” Demetria said. “She refused to go to the junior prom because she had a tournament to go to. She wasn’t doing what the other teenagers were doing. She sacrificed a lot to get where she is.”

Despite her hard work, Guirantes never anticipated making the Olympics. Rather than something she was destined for, she said the opportunity to represent Puerto Rico is just another chapter of her story.

“As a kid, you watch the Olympics and you grow up wanting to be there, but I didn’t know how to get there,” she said. “As I got older, I learned to not focus so much on the end goal and rather enjoy every moment of the journey. The results speak for themselves. I’m about to be playing against the best of the best in the world.”

It’s a chapter with a lot of questions, many of which Guirantes said will not be answered until she gets to Paris.

“We’ll have those conversations when we get there,” she said. “What being at training camp feels like, what being on the Olympic stage feels like, if we’re nervous. I don’t know yet. I’ve never been in that position before so I just plan on soaking it all in and being in the moment.”

The question Guirantes gets the most, however, is in regard to the iconic tattoo of the Olympic rings. She is still undecided on whether or not she’ll join the club.

“Every Olympian gets it, apparently. It’s like a thing.”

Guirantes has etched her name in history as one of six Long Islanders to play in the WNBA . That list includes fellow Rutgers alumna Sue Wicks, whose single-season free throw record Guirantes broke during her junior season.

Guirantes said she is also looking forward to connecting with Kahleah Copper, who graduated from Rutgers six years before she did. Copper is a guard for the Phoenix Mercury and will represent the United States at the Olympics.

“I’m eager to see her, watch some of her games and really pick her brain because she’s doing really well,” Guirantes said. “I look up to her a lot, and to see her growth and her journey has been inspiring.”

Regardless of how far she takes her game, Guirantes said she can never forget the place it all began. She was a three-time Newsday All-Long Island selection and the Suffolk player of the year in 2015. Her 2,201 career points at Bellport still ranks 13th in Long Island girls basketball history.

“It’s easy to get caught in the moment,” she said. “Being in different spaces and seeing the world — I’ve been places I never thought I’d be — remembering that I came from this little town on Long Island that many people don’t know about is very humbling. It makes me that much more grateful.”

Guirantes' family is looking forward to supporting her every step of the way — from Bellport to Paris and back again.

“She said she was going to do it and she did,” her mother said. “To play for Puerto Rico and now to be an Olympian … she did it. She’s doing it. She’s not done yet.