Career
She is considered one of the greatest players in her country, along with Hortência Marcari and Janeth Arcain. Foreign Brazil women"s national basketball team, Paula is the second biggest scorer with 723 points (behind Hortência) and holds the record for caps with 45 games, being in two Olympic Games and six World Championships. Paula begun playing basketball at the age of ten, and in 1974, was invited to join Assis Tênis Clube.
One year and a half later, the team folded and Paula went to Jundiaí to play for Colégio Divino Salvador, and a few months later, was drafted for the first time by the national team despite being only fourteen.
In 1988, Paula went to play in Spain, but an injured knee and difficulties of adaptation brought her back to Brazil in 1991. In 1979, she helped her team to a fourth place at the Pan American Games, held in Puerto Rico.
During the 1983 World Championship hosted by Brazil, reporter Juarez Araújo compared Paula"s play to Magic Johnson, leading to her long-lasting nickname of "Magic Paula". That same year, Paula and the national team improved their previous Pan American performance by winning a bronze medal at the Venezuela games, and, in 1987, went yet one more step further by winning a silver medal at the 1987 Indianapolis Pan Americans.
In 1992, Paula helped her team qualify for the Olympic Games for the first time.
Brazil arrived in seventh place at the Barcelona Olympics. After discussions with Hortência, Paula returned to Piracicaba. She was considered most valuable player in that tournament.
She still played for clubs before retiring in 2000.
After retirement, Paula became an entrepreneur, director of the Centro Olímpico do Ibirapuera, and worked for a while in the Brazilian Ministry of Sports. She also commented the basketball tournaments of the 2011 Pan American Games and 2012 Summer Olympics for Rede Record, and comments the National Basketball Association playoffs and All-Star Game for Space since 2014.
