Basketball New Zealand (BBNZ) is excited to announce its squad of 12 athletes set to compete in the upcoming FIBA U15 Women’s Oceania Cup, to be held in Australia in November 2024 as Year One of the U17 Women’s cycle (2024-26).
The squad includes: Emilia Ainley, Charis Broughton, Shamar Broughton, Makenzie Disher, Ava Jones, Areta Kahura, Sienna Maurice, Riley McClenaghan, Imani Rasmussen, Maniah Taefu, Nahala Toeleiu and Kilani-Mae Tuineau.
In addition, four non-travelling reserves have been named as Rosie Gaffaney, Sienna Letoa-Tuala, Olive Maling and Madison Skelton. In the event of one of the squad of 12 being unable to travel, a Reserve will be named in their place.
Head Coach for this U15 cycle is Liam Connelly, with Aled Jones, Darci Finnigan and Maia Williamson coming in as assistants. Kat Wills is Team Manager and Ashley Harmsworth is the Team Physiotherapist.
New U15 Women’s Cycle Begins
The U17 Women’s cycle operates over a three-year FIBA progression system, beginning with the FIBA U15 Oceania Cup – previously known as the Oceania Championships – in November. The top two countries from this competition progress to the FIBA U16 Women’s Asia Cup in 2025, with the four highest-ranked teams earning a place at the cycle’s pinnacle event: the FIBA U17 Women’s World Cup in 2026.
The process for selecting this squad began at the start of 2024, with a national talent identification process which saw Associations providing input to BBNZ on suitable athletes for this age group. This was followed in February by a set of regional camps across Auckland, Christchurch and Palmerston North, which saw those nominated athletes in action under the watchful eyes of the selectors.
Last month saw an invitation-only U15 Women’s National Team selection camp held in Auckland, followed soon after by the Foot Locker U16 Nationals – both key opportunities for the coaches to see the athletes perform before a final selection was made.
The squad includes four players from the championship-winning Tauranga squad that took out the U16 Nationals last month in Charis Broughton, Shamar Broughton, Riley McClenaghan and Areta Kahura; Shamar taking out MVP while Riley earned Defensive Player of the tournament honours. All five of the All Star Five members are included in this squad, with the Broughton sisters joined by Toeleiu, Rasmussen and Jones.
“They’re all in and committed which is huge”
New Zealand U15 Women’s national team head coach, Liam Connelly says that the final selection process was made even harder by the high level of talent to choose from.
“It was a super-tough process for sure, I think even back at the regional camps at the start of the year we had a tough time selecting who to bring to camp, and then once we were at camp there were a lot of girls who put their best foot forward,” says Connelly.
“They all understood what it would mean to be able to represent their country, and we talked a lot at that camp about legacy – they really bought into that and were striving for that. Then we had U16 Nationals the following week and some more young athletes really showed up again in this setting, a few players surprised us. So it was tough for sure, but they’re all in and committed which is huge.
“We suspect that we’ve got a pretty good age group in terms of talent and ability, and we also know that some of these athletes are pretty special in terms of their character. And when you have enough of those people in a squad, it really lifts the levels of the other players. And we saw that straight away with this group.”
Leaving a legacy
Connelly says that while the coaches are taking a long-term, legacy-driven view of the cycle, they know that the team needs to perform at a high level each year to qualify for the next tournament.
“We have both our long-term and short-term lenses on, so we want these players to focus not just on year one but on their legacy over the three years of the cycle – as obviously you don’t get to year three of the cycle unless you’ve nailed years one and two. We have big ideas of what we want to try and achieve, but our focus is on the now and achieving the right result at the Oceania [Cup].
“We had our selection camp fresh off the boy’s success at the U17 World Cup [in Turkey], so as a group we talked a lot about what it means – not just for that age group programme and the boys in that team, but for us as a country; for all the other players coming after them and us.
“Our players have talked a lot about inspiring the next group of players and inspiring those around them, their understanding is that’s it’s not just about them; obviously achieving well on the world stage is good for them, but it’s also about leaving a legacy and an imprint for the people that come after them.”
Connelly and his coaching staff will continue to work with the athletes over the next few months in preparation for the FIBA U15 Oceania Cup in November.
“The players will be super busy with school stuff over the next term and a bit, so for us a lot of it will be working with the coaches in their regions and giving them some really key things to lock in on over the next few months; things like shooting training and fitness training, focussing on a few key areas that they can progress in.
“They’ll all have different individual performance plans that they’re working through, so it’s not going to look the same for all of them. It’s about them being fit, healthy and prepared leading into the Oceania Cup tournament.”
New Zealand U15 Women’s Squad – 2024 FIBA U15 Women’s Oceania Cup
Emilia Ainley, Nelson Basketball
Charis Broughton, Tauranga City Basketball
Shamar Broughton, Tauranga City Basketball
Makenzie Disher, Canterbury Basketball
Ava Jones, Canterbury Basketball
Areta Kahura, Tauranga City Basketball
Sienna Maurice, Harbour Basketball
Riley McClenaghan, Tauranga City Basketball
Imani Rasmussen, Harbour Basketball
Maniah Taefu, Canterbury Basketball
Nahala Toeleiu, Wellington Basketball
Kilani-Mae Tuineau, Counties-Manukau Basketball
New Zealand U15 Women’s Squad – Reserves
Rosie Gaffaney, Basketball Otago
Sienna Letoa-Tuala, Porirua Basketball Association
Olive Maling, Harbour Basketball
Madison Skelton, Harbour Basketball
