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