The guard joins USF wing Kitjia Laksa in not declaring for the WNBA Draft this year.
Tiana Mangakahia is coming back for more.
Less than a week after her team bounced out of the NCAA Tournament, Syracuse announced Monday that the star guard will return to school next season for her final year of eligibility.
Mangakahia, a native of Brisbane, Australia born in April 1995, surpasses the age requirement of being able to declare for the WNBA Draft. Despite that, she is staying for one more year with the Orange.
“Over the past two years my teammates and I have accomplished so much but I know we have only scratched the surface of our true potential,” Mangakahia said in a statement from Syracuse Athletics. “I hope to make this upcoming season my best yet and look forward to seeing our fans supporting us all across the country.”
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The junior guard has scored 1,114 points in just two years at Syracuse, becoming the fastest player in team history to surpass 1,000 points. Mangakahia led the Orange to the ACC Tournament Semifinals in 2019 and received an All-ACC Tournament First Team honor for her efforts. Syracuse also received a No. 3 seed in the NCAA Tournament, the highest in program history, in big part because of Mangakahia.
“I am extremely excited that Tiana is returning,” said Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman. “The experience that we will have in our backcourt is exciting and promising for next year.”
The Orange finished the year 25-9 with an 11-5 record in ACC play. Mangakahia, who will graduate in May, led SU with 18 points in the Orange’s season-ending loss to 6-seed South Dakota State in the NCAA Tournament second round. She also added eight assists to set the program record for total assists (591).
Remarkably, her assist percentage topped 50 this season, and 60 last season. Both marks led the nation.
With Mangakahia’s announcement, Syracuse will return four of its five starters from the past two years.
Meanwhile, more than 1,000 miles to the south, another star player has announced that she too will not declare for this year’s WNBA Draft. Former South Florida wing Kitjia Laksa posted her plans on Instagram over the weekend.
Laksa, a native of Riga, Latvia, played in three games for the Bulls in 2018-19 before tearing her ACL and meniscus early in the year. She was named a Senior CLASS candidate and part of the preseason Wade, Wooden, Naismith, and Drysdale award watch lists. Laksa is also the reigning Latvian National Player of the Year after leading the Latvian Senior National Team in their first appearance in the FIBA World Cup this past September.
Laksa received the 2018 USF Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award last week after setting two NCAA records in 2017-18 en route to a WBCA All-America honorable mention accolade. The then-junior also led USF to the NCAA Tournament for what was the fourth straight year. The 2018-19 Bulls lost in the second round of the WNIT to current semifinalist James Madison.
She’ll be applying for a medical waiver from the NCAA, her head coach, Jose Fernandez, previously told High Post Hoops. A spokesperson for USF also informed High Post Hoops that she has not decided if she is returning to school, just that she has not declared for the draft.
This year’s WNBA Draft is set for Wednesday, April 10.
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