The Tall Ferns began their tournament facing the Canadian team that ended up winning the Montreal stop. In the contest against Canada, Mackey-Williams was the leading scorer for New Zealand hitting two one-pointers and cashing in one from distance in the 21-8 loss.
Mackey-Williams again led New Zealand in scoring in its bout with the U24 USA team of LSU’s Hailey Van Lith and Stanford’s Cameron Brink. She finished with five points, again finishing with two one-point field goals and a two-pointer from behind the arc as well as hitting her only free throw attempt of the game.
In their final pool-play game, Mackey-Williams led all scorers with 11 of 21 points for the Tall Ferns in a 21-14 win over Poland to earn a spot in the tournament bracket. The BYU junior made two one-pointers, poured in three two-pointers and was a perfect 3-for-3 from the charity stripe.
The road for the Tall Ferns ended in a 12-9 loss to the United States team of Cierra Burdick (Seattle Storm, WNBA), Blake Dietrick (Atlanta Dream), Caroline Littlefield (North Carolina) and Camille Zimmerman (Columbia). Mackey-Williams finished with two points in the loss.
“I’m really proud of my New Zealand team,” Mackey-Williams said. Being able to play against the top-ranked teams was awesome and beating Poland who was ranked No. 4 was a great achievement. I’m really looking forward to taking what I learned and applying it this season as we enter the Big 12 that plays the same aggressive style of basketball.”
Mackey-Williams scored the eighth-most points by any player in the tournament (20) while averaging 6.7 points per contest and leading the Tall Ferns in scoring. She now returns to school where she will help the Cougars prepare for their inaugural Big 12 campaign.
