John's Journal: Rosemount’s Ramlall Family Knows Basketball

Tuesday was a busy evening for the Ramlall family of Rosemount, which includes four talented basketball players; a son in college at St. Cloud State and three daughters playing at Rosemount High School.

Sunil Ramlall, the kids’ father, was in St. Cloud to watch the Huskies face the University of Mary while their mom, Dhanmati, was in the Rosemount gym for a game between the Irish and East Ridge.

It was a winning night for the family, with all four children in the starting lineup for their teams.

In a 75-60 victory over East Ridge, the Ramlall sisters – sophomore twins Amisha and Arshia and ninth-grader Ashna -- combined for 53 points. Amisha matched her season high with 30, Ashna had 15 and Arshia eight. Up north in St. Cloud, their brother Anish had eight points and a season-high four assists as the Huskies defeated Mary 66-50. He is a 2023 Rosemount grad and Huskies sophomore.

Amisha made headlines before the 2024-25 season started, announcing that she was making a verbal commitment to play at the University of Minnesota. Arshia and Ashna are also receiving notice from college coaches, which means their parents might be doing even more traveling to see them play in the future.

Long ago, Amisha began dreaming of playing for the Gophers. After coach Dawn Plitzuweit extended an offer this fall, it didn’t take long for the 10^th-grader to say yes. Amisha was on campus to watch the Gophers practice when she informed Plitzuweit that she was going to wear the maroon and gold.

“I just told her that home is home, and I know where I want to go and I want to commit here to the University of Minnesota. She picked me up and hugged me,” Amisha said.

“I always knew where I wanted to go. Obviously, the U of M is a very good academic school and obviously an amazing basketball program. So it was just the perfect school for me. Coach Dawn and all the coaches there, I met them a couple times on visits. Everyone is so down to earth and their coaching style really just fits into how I play. And they care about you on the court and they're going to be on you, but you also know they're going to care about you off the court, too.

“There's nothing else I could want in a school. I want to be close to home, and I'm very, very close to my family, and it was just a perfect fit for me and there was no point in waiting.”

Amisha is a 5-foot-11 athlete who, like her siblings, isn’t afraid to fire the basketball.

“They could always shoot it and that always helps in the game of basketball,” said Rosemount coach Chris Orr, who led the Irish to the Class 4A state tournament last season. “They can put the ball in the basket, and they've developed their game elsewhere, besides just shooting and everything.

“They have a super high ceiling. The great thing about them is they're sponges. They love to learn. They love to be coached. They're very coachable. They're great teammates. And they love the game.”

The sisters were born in Minnesota, and Orr has seen them on the court for years.

Recently, he was looking through some photos and found one from a basketball camp years ago. It showed the Ramlall sisters around second or third grade.

“Once they got to fourth, fifth, sixth grade, it's crazy to say, but you could tell (they were talented),” Orr said.

As a ninth-grader last year, Amisha averaged a team-high 17.8 points. She played in nine varsity games as an eighth-grader, averaging 3.6 points. This season she is averaging 22 points, Ashna averages 17 and Arshia eight. They are the top three scorers on the team, followed by ninth-grader Kaylee Dilger (seven points).

Tuesday’s win over East Ridge gave Rosemount a record of 4-3 going into a Friday game at Eastview. The Irish lost six seniors, including three starters, from last year’s state tournament team, which finished 21-8.

The Irish are not at full strength, with junior Riley Ang sidelined by an ACL injury for the second year in a row. She should be able to return later in the season, Orr said.

“We've had a couple tough losses,” he said. “We just haven't finished the job. And (against East Ridge) we were able to do that. It was fun to see the progress and the growth of our young team.”

Amisha Ramlall said, “We have a young group, but obviously these games over the course of the season help us learn and grow. We’ve just got to keep pushing ourselves to be better and just keep preparing for the next game. We’re really young as a team but we have potential. We have really great chemistry and good skills, and as a team, I think we will flourish.”

The sisters are competitive, whether they are on the basketball court, in the classroom or playing board games with each other. Orr joked about telling them to take an occasional break from basketball, and the sisters acknowledged that fact.

“We have a group chat and he’ll be like, ‘Go do a puzzle, go read a book,’ ” said Amisha with a smile.

The story of the Ramlall family is unique. Sunil and Dhanmati grew up in Guyana, a small nation in South America, where they went to high school together. They came to Minnesota in the 1990s and built a life here. Sunil, who holds two degrees from the University St. Thomas as well as a master’s degree and Ph.D from the University of Minnesota, works as an academic program director and professor in the College of Professional Studies at the University of New Hampshire. Dhanmati, who has an MBA from St. Thomas and is working on a doctoral degree, teaches accounting at Century College in White Bear Lake.

Sunil was a competitive cricket player in Guyana, and he and Dhanmati never dreamed that they would someday have a Minnesota family filled with basketball players.

“When we first came we were trying to survive and create a future for ourselves,” Sunil said. “As the kids grew, we knew they were athletic. They focus on academics, and that always comes first, aside from their well-being.

“They really love their teammates and coaches. They’re having lots of fun.”

--MSHSL senior content creator John Millea has been the leading voice of Minnesota high school activities for decades. Follow him on Threads at johnmilleamn and listen to "Preps Today with John Millea” wherever you get podcasts. Contact John at [email protected] or [email protected]