Mangakahia Discusses 'Emotional' Return
Tiana Mangakahia returned to the basketball court on Sunday for the first time since being diagnosed with stage two breast cancer. Mangakahia missed all of last season due to the disease, and was declared cancer free in November 2019. One year later, the emotions were running deep as she prepared to play in her first game since beating cancer.
"There was a lot going through my mind," Mangakahia said via Syracuse women's basketball's twitter account. "Especially on the bus. In the warmups, there was less emotions because I was just focused. But on the bus I was very emotional and I just couldn't believe that this day was here and I was going to be able to play."
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Syracuse won the game 50-39, and Mangakahia was the best player on the floor. She finished with a game high 16 points, seven rebounds, three assists, four steals and a block. Still, she was not satisfied with that performance.
"If I was to rate my performance out of 100, I wasn't extremely happy with how I played but I'm just glad we got the win," Mangakahia said. "So I'd probably say like an 85. I just felt super happy to be on the court, and I just wanted to play really good."
The win was the 14th straight season opening victory for the Orange. They have their home opener on Wednesday against Lincoln before hitting the road again for three straight against ACC opponents. Wednesday's game in the Dome tips at 6:00 p.m. Eastern and will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
