Tiana Mangakahia Granted Extension of Eligibility

Syracuse's star point guard will return to the court after beating cancer.

Mike McAllister | Oct 2, 2020

Tiana Mangakahia Granted Extension of Eligibility /

Syracuse women's basketball received some great news on Friday, as the NCAA granted Tiana Mangakahia an extension of eligibility to allow her to play for the Orange during the 2020-21 season.

Mangakahia was one of the best players in college basketball during the 2018-19 campaign. She had to deal with the toughest opponents of her life during the offseason when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in June 2019. She received a phone call one morning from her doctor to reveal the diagnosis. Alone in her apartment and over 9,500 miles away from her parents in Australia, Mangakahia broke down in tears over the news.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO THE FREE ALL SYRACUSE NEWSLETTER TO GET THE LATEST ORANGE UPDATES SENT TO YOUR INBOX!

Her family traveled back and forth in order to spend time with Mangakahia, and ensure she always had family by her side. The Syracuse coaching staff, led by head coach Quentin Hillsman provided fatherly support to help her battle breast cancer from a mental standpoint.

Between July and October, Mangakahia underwent eight rounds of chemotherapy to battle the disease. Syracuse Sports and Information Director Olivia Coiro, as well as Hillsman's wife Shandrist, took Mangakahia to her appointments with her parents on FaceTime so they could be involved and ask any questions they may have.

“We called ourselves her American moms,” Coiro told Sports Illustrated last December.

During a five hour surgery in November, doctors removed what remained of the tumor. They did not find cancer cells in what was removed, and she was diagnosed as cancer free.

Since then, Mangakahia has been playing pickup ball, practicing and working out to get back in basketball shape. With the NCAA's ruling, she will be able to wear the Syracuse uniform for one more season before her inevitable life as a professional basketball player. It is one of the better sports stories in a year that has been unlike any other.

Published Oct 2, 2020

MIKE MCALLISTER

Title: Publisher All Syracuse Education: Roberts Wesleyan College Location: Syracuse, New York Expertise: Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting. EXPERIENCE Mike McAllister has been covering Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting for more than a decade. Mike's career started with his own free blog as a way to vent following sporting events. Shortly thereafter, a network of basketball sites called Coast 2 Coast Hoops asked him to run their Syracuse site. That site was called Nation of Orange, and Mike quickly established it as a go-to for Syracuse fans. After running Nation of Orange for several months, a position with the Syracuse site on the Scout network became available. After one year as the recruiting expert with Cuse Nation, he was named the publisher. Mike oversaw the transition from Scout to 247Sports, and ran the site on that network for years. Presented with the opportunity to join one of the biggest names in the sports journalism industry, Sports Illustrated, Mike jumped at the chance. All Syracuse was started from scratch by Mike and the Fan Nation team. It has now become a staple for Orange fans of various sports. Mike has broken news on recruiting, Syracuse basketball and football team information and has established himself as the top recruiting inside in the market. He has appeared on local radio shows, television broadcasts, national radio shows and much more. Mr. McAllister has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Information Management from Roberts Wesleyan College.