LOUDONVILLE — Valencia Fontenelle-Posson and Cheyenne Talbot are first-year players on the Siena women's basketball team.

They already have a bond and an unspoken form of communication: American Sign Language.

"I know a little bit of sign and she does," Fontenelle-Posson said. "So when I don't understand something, we can go back and forth because we both are in the same boat. I feel like it's very important for us to communicate that."

Both players are hearing-impaired. Fontenelle-Posson, a 5-foot-10 freshman wing from Guilderland, wears a hearing aid on her right ear. Talbot, a 5-8 junior point guard from Mount Vernon, has a cochlear implant in her right ear.

They knew each other even before Talbot joined Siena as a transfer from Monroe College in the Bronx in September. They first met while trying out for the USA Women's Deaf National Team in August at the Maryland School for the Deaf.

Fontenelle-Posson and Talbot both made the team and will represent the United States in May at the Summer Deaflympics in Brazil.

"I tell 'V' every day in the gym, 'Yo, let's work hard every single day, because at the end of the day, we have to win that gold in Brazil,'" said Talbot, who earned bronze in Poland two years ago.

Talbot said she was born with poor hearing that only got worse. She received the implant when she was 2 years old.

"My hearing loss is what keeps me going," she said. "I just want to show others that your hearing loss can't stop you from nothing and that you can achieve your goals and make it far in life."