WELLINGTON, New Zealand — BYU guard Arielle Mackey Williams has been named to the New Zealand 2degrees 3X3 Tall Ferns roster for the FIBA U23 World Cup in Mongolia, Sep. 11-15.
“We are super proud and excited for Ari to represent New Zealand on the global stage,” said BYU head coach Amber Whiting. “For athletes, representing their home country in international competition is one of the greatest honors and we look forward to supporting Ari as she competes for the Tall Ferns at the World Cup.”
This will be Mackey-Williams’ second stint with the Tall Ferns 3X3 team as she competed for New Zealand in the FIBA 3X3 Edmonton Stop last summer. At the Edmonton Stop, Mackey-Williams led the Tall Ferns in scoring at 5.5 points per contest and was the leading scorer in three of their four games.
Mackey-Williams missed the 2023-24 season with a knee injury but was a key player for the Cougars during their run to the WCC Tournament semifinal in 2023.
The New Zealand native was the third-leading scorer for BYU in 2022-23 at 8.8 points per game. Mackey-Williams impacted the game in other ways as she recorded 2.3 assists, 1.9 rebounds and 0.8 steals per contest during her sophomore season.
The U23 3X3 World Cup will include a 20-team field competing for the World Cup Title. New Zealand will take on a field comprised of (in order of seeding) China, the United States, Germany, France, Egypt, Mongolia, Japan, Hungary, Ukraine, Spain, Poland, the Netherlands, Chile, Israel, Italy, Austria, Benin, Kenya and Uganda. The group play and tournament schedule will be released closer to the opening of the 2024 World Cup according to the FIBA website.