Tiana Mangakahia
Tiana Cynthia Mangakahia (born 21 April 1995) is an Australian former professional basketball player. She began her career with two seasons in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) before playing college basketball in the United States for Syracuse University between 2017 and 2021. After a season in Russia, Mangakahia returned to the WNBL in 2022. She retired in 2023 due to breast cancer. Early life The only daughter of Terei Mangakahia, a Māori who emigrated from New Zealand to Australia in his late teens, and his Queensland-born wife Cynthia, Mangakahia grew up with five brothers, four older and one younger. In a 2020 story, ESPN journalist Aishwarya Kumar described the young Mangakahia as "a daredevil", regularly climbing a tall pole in the family's backyard and competing in various sports and games alongside her brothers. Her older brothers all played basketball, and she was first enrolled in a basketball camp with them. Mangakahia quickly took to the sport, with Kumar noting that "Even at age 8, when she was the smallest girl on the team, she'd run and pass the ball like a ninja, nimble and fast." At age 9, she was asked to play on her club's 12-and-under team, but her mother vetoed the move. In the Kumar piece, Mangakahia herself recalled, "I think that actually helped me so much, because you never know. What if I played [up] and just sat on the bench the whole time? I probably would've not enjoyed basketball." Mangakahia played basketball as a junior for the Southern Districts Spartans. While in Canberra at the Australian Institute of Sport (AIS), she attended Lake Ginninderra Secondary College. Basketball career Early years Mangakahia debuted in the South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) in 2011 with the Brisbane Spartans. She made her debut in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) in 2011–12 with the Australian Institute of Sport. Mangakahia's next stint came in the 2013–14 WNBL season with the Townsville Fire. She then returned to the Brisbane Spartans for the 2014 SEABL season and helped the team win the championship. College Between 2015 and 2017, Mangakahia attended Hutchinson Community College in the United States but did not play basketball. In 2017, Mangakahia joined Syracuse University. In the 2017–18 season, Mangakahia averaged 17.5 points, 9.8 assists, and 3.8 rebounds per game for the Orange. On 24 November 2017, she had 17 assists against Vanderbilt, breaking the Syracuse single-game assists record. She had a career-high eight steals against UNLV on 22 December and scored a season-high 44 points against Georgia Tech on 4 January. She subsequently earned first-team All-ACC honours. She emerged as a star in her second season at Syracuse in 2018–19, averaging 16.9 points, 8.4 assists, and 4.9 rebounds while leading the Orange to a 25–9 record and a No. 3 seed, the program's highest ever, in the NCAA tournament, earning first-team All-ACC honours and All-America honourable mention. She had the first points-rebounds-assists triple-double in program history against UNC with 34 points, 10 rebounds, and 10 assists on