Syracuse All-Atlantic Coast Conference point guard Tiana Mangakahia will sit out the entire 2019-20 season as she continues to undergo treatment for breast cancer, she announced Tuesday morning. The announcement came during her first press conference since she was diagnosed with Stage 2 breast cancer on July 1.

The fifth-year senior intends to be back on the court for Syracuse in the 2020-21 season, she said.

“I plan to play next season and get ready for the WNBA,” Mangakahia said. “That’s still my goal. That’s something I aspire to every day. That’s what I think about, being able to get back on the court.”

The Australia native started 42 games for the Orange over the previous two seasons, averaging 16.9 points and 9.6 assists per game. She played in all 34 games for the Orange in the 2018-19 season and was named to the All-ACC First Team. Mangakahia transferred to SU from Hutchinson Community College (Kansas) in 2017.

Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman accompanied Mangakahia at Tuesday morning’s press conference. Hillsman’s comments also served as his first since Mangakahia announced her diagnosis. Mangakahia called Hillsman the day she was diagnosed, she said, and the two scheduled to meet in-person soon after.

“We had a little sad moment,” Mangakahia said. “Then Coach Q said, ‘We have to figure out where to go from here.’”

Hillsman tweeted a picture of the two together on July 8.

Hillsman, who is entering his 14th season as head coach of the Orange, and the rest of SU’s coaching staff have acted as a support group for Mangakahia, whose family is in Australia. The full Syracuse womens basketball team will convene on August 25 for the first time since Mangakahia’s diagnosis, Hillsman said.

“She’s like a daughter,” Hillsman said of Mangakahia. “We have an obligation as coaches, as a university that our student-athletes are well taken care of. The most encouraging part about it is that she’s sitting here, she’s healthy, she’s happy and she’s doing well.”

Mangakahia has completed four chemotherapy treatments and is scheduled to have four more, starting on August 30.

Published on August 20, 2019 at 1:59 pm

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