Érika Cristina de Souza is a Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

ian professional women's basketball

Women's basketball

Women's basketball is one of the few women's sports that developed in tandem with its men's counterpart. It became popular, spreading from the east coast of the United States to the west coast , in large part via women's colleges...

 player with the Atlanta Dream

Atlanta Dream

The Atlanta Dream is a professional basketball team based in Atlanta, Georgia, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the 2008 WNBA season began. The team is owned by Dream Too LLC, which is composed of two Atlanta...

 of the WNBA

Women's National Basketball Association

The Women's National Basketball Association is a women's professional basketball league in the United States. It currently is composed of twelve teams. The league was founded on April 24, 1996 as the women's counterpart to the National Basketball Association...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. Prior to joining the Dream for their inaugural 2008 season, DeSouza was a member of the Los Angeles Sparks

Los Angeles Sparks

The Los Angeles Sparks is a professional basketball team based in Los Angeles, California, playing in the Western Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded before the league's inaugural 1997 season began...

 in 2002, with whom she played in 11 games. Leaving the WNBA thereafter, DeSouza traveled to Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, where she won the 2005-2006 MVP of the Spanish women's league while playing with UB-Barça

UB-Barça

Universitat de Barcelona-FC Barcelona is a Catalan women’s basketball team. Initially belonging just to the Universitat de Barcelona, they're now part of the FC Barcelona family...

. In 2007, she returned to the WNBA with the Connecticut Sun

Connecticut Sun

The Connecticut Sun is a professional basketball team based in Uncasville, Connecticut, playing in the Eastern Conference in the Women's National Basketball Association . The team was founded in Orlando, Florida before the 1999 season began; the team moved to Connecticut before the 2003 season...

. With the Sun, she played in 32 games, with 2 starts.

International competitions

A member of the Brazil women's national basketball team

Brazil women's national basketball team

Brazil women's national basketball team is the official women's basketball team for Brazil. They won the 1994 FIBA World Championship for Women in Australia.-Olympic Games:* 1992: 7th place* 1996: 2nd place * 2000: 3rd place...

, DeSouza competed at the 2004 Olympic games

Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics

Basketball at the 2004 Summer Olympics took place at the Helliniko Olympic Indoor Arena in Athens, Greece for the preliminary rounds, with the latter stages being held in the Olympic Indoor Hall at the Athens Olympic Sports Complex....

. She was due to represent her country in the Olympic Qualifying Tournament

FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament for Women 2008

The FIBA World Olympic Qualifying Tournament 2008 for women took place from June 9 to June 15, 2008. On December 9, 2007, FIBA announced that Spain would host the wildcard tournament....

 where Brazil qualified for the 2008 Summer Olympics

Basketball at the 2008 Summer Olympics

Basketball contests at the 2008 Olympic Games were held from August 9, 2008 to August 24, 2008. Competitions were held at the Wukesong Indoor Stadium in Beijing, China...

but missed it due to injury and was officially ruled out of playing in the Olympics on July 29.

She is currently playing for Salamanca in Spain during the 2011-12 WNBA off-season.