lla Tofaeono with Texas A&M University and with Penrith Youth League. Photo by Noel Rowsell
FORMER Penrith District Basketball junior representative Ella Tofaeono has been named in the 12-female ‘2degrees Tall Ferns’ lineup, which is representing New Zealand at the FIBA Women’s World Cup Pre-Qualifier tournament in Mexico City from 19-25 August.
Ella is one of three players chosen from the Australian NBL1 competition, where she plays for the Townsville Flames.
This will be the first time the 2degrees Tall Ferns have played in Mexico and they will face Montenegro, Mexico and Mozambique in Group B. If they can advance to the semi-final round, they will face Group A opponents which include Korea, Mali, Czechia and Venezuela.
If the Tall Ferns can finish first overall in the tournament, they will qualify for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournaments in 2026, their final step in securing New Zealand’s first FIBA Women’s World Cup appearance since 1994.
Ella began her basketball career at the Hills District Basketball Association, playing in Under 14 (2010-11) and Under 16 (2012) representative teams.
She move to Penrith in 2013, playing U16 Division 1 that year, Under 18 Division (2014-15), Waratah Youth League and Waratah Women’s League (2016) winning the Defensive Player of the Year award and voted into the All Star Five.
From 2011 – 2016, Ella was in the Talented Athlete Program (TAP), National Intensive Training Program, played twice in the East Coast Challenge, made the NSW U16 Girls team twice (2012-13), the Basketball Australia U19 Development Camp (2013), the NSW U16 Girls team twice (2014-15) and the NSW Under 20 Girls team (2016).
Ella moved to the USA to play for Midland College, Texas, playing in 2017-18 (Freshman), 2018-19 (Redshirt), 2019-20 (Sophomore), 2020 NJCAAD Division 1 All-American Third Team.
She moved on to Texas A&M University, playing in 2020-21 (Junior), with the team the Texas A&M SEC Regular Season Champions, Texas A&M SEC Tournament semi-finals and the Texad A&M NCAA Sweet Sixteen.
Ella returned to Australia in 2023, where she would be signed to play in the NBL1 competition with the Geelong United Supercats, then move to the Townsville Flames in 2024, where she is also currently a squad member with the Townsville Fire WNBL team.
NB: Tahlia Tupaea is the previous Penrith player to be chosen to play for the Tall Ferns.
