Syracuse women's basketball player Tiana Mangakahia has been cleared to resume practicing with the team, a little more than eight months after the star guard was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Mangakahia announced that she has been cleared Monday on Twitter, and the school confirmed to ESPN that she will be on the practice court Tuesday.
Great news 🙏🏼 Cleared to start practicing again! Can not wait for the future. Thank you for all the support and love from every single person. Excited is an understatement 🏀🍊
— Tiana Mangakahia (@Tianamanga) February 24, 2020
She is expected to have no restrictions as she builds her strength back, according to a team spokesperson.
Mangakahia, 24, is currently redshirting what would be her senior season for the Orange. She previously told ESPN that she intends to apply to the NCAA for an additional year of eligibility.
She ranked second in NCAA Division I in assists last season. In emerging as one of college basketball's most recognizable players with a flair for highlight passes, she set the ACC single-season record for assists while also scoring nearly 17 points per game. Despite thus far playing just two seasons for Syracuse after transferring from Hutchinson Community College, where she did not play, Mangakahia's 591 career assists are more than all but five active Division I players.
An Australian, Mangakahia hoped to turn her development into a spot on her country's roster for the 2020 Olympics. She made a preliminary roster shorty after the 2018-19 college season. But she was diagnosed last June with stage 2 breast cancer and made the news public on July 1.
Treatment in the intervening months included eight chemotherapy sessions, a double mastectomy and a reconstruction surgery.
Now as the current season nears an end, she will return to the practice court with an eye on the future.
"So what if Tokyo 2020 didn't happen," Mangakahia told ESPN this month. "There's always Paris 2024, right?"
Syracuse is 15-12 this season without Mangakahia, including 9-7 in the ACC, and is projected to miss the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2012. But if she is able to play next season, Mangakahia would rejoin a lineup returning four starters, including leading scorer Kiara Lewis.