SINGAPORE - Saint Mary's Women's Basketball player and New Zealand native, Tayla Dalton, grew up watching New Zealand legends like Jillian Harmon play at Stanford, in the pros, and for New Zealand's National Women's Basketball Team.
 
This summer, she got to be teammates with Harmon, Kalani Purcell, and other stars of the "Tall Ferns." Dalton was selected to try out for the New Zealand National Women's 3-on-3 team, made the team as a reserve, and played for the Tall Ferns team in the FIBA Asia Cup in Singapore.
 
"While still back in the States, I was selected to trial for the National Women's 3x3 team," Dalton said. "I literally jumped off the plane and went straight into trials where I got to see all my past teammates and role models I had grown up watching."
 
Dalton was thrilled to play with some of the best fellow Kiwis and noticed how much she had improved from last year. However, she was still stunned to get the call that she made the team as a reserve.
 
"I was called by Head Coach, Justine Reed, and she named me in the squad of six to be considered for the World Cup, Asia Cup, and the Commonwealth Games," Dalton said. "I was absolutely blown away and in total shock, as I had no expectations going into camp."
 
Dalton traveled with the team to France and Belgium for the Pre-World Cup and World Cup as a reserve, and then saw action for the New Zealand Tall Ferns 3x3 team during the Asia Cup in Singapore, and is a reserve for the upcoming Commonwealth Games.
 
"I had the opportunity to play with and watch some of the most talented athletes from around the world in this evolving 3x3 game," Dalton noted. "When playing on the world stage it is always such an eye-opening experience. Each country carries their own unique style of play, has such a wide range of ages and basketball experience, and you're even playing against teams that you don't speak the same language as. It is pretty incredible to play a game that regardless of how old you are, or what language you speak, you can all battle it out on the court playing the game we all love."
 
As the youngest member of the Tall Ferns 3x3 team, Dalton took the opportunity to take in as much knowledge of the game as she could from her teammates and gained valuable international playing experience on the court.
 
"I learned that this form of basketball has a lot more physicality, speed, and energy usage in a small space and a small amount of time," Dalton said about the 3x3 format. "In our team we had to adjust to playing with each other very quickly, which was challenging but also very rewarding.
 
"Off the court, I was able to pick the brains of some of Basketball New Zealand's legends of the game. Not only did I gain a lot of IQ insight in the game, but got to talk about their college experiences, their professional basketball journeys, and life off the court. Getting to know players from other countries was also such an honor and I have made connections I will keep for life." 
 
The Tall Ferns were Asia Cup Gold Medal winners in 2018, and the road to another potential medal was daunting, especially in pool play. New Zealand defeated Palestine 21-5 and India 17-9 in the qualifiers. Their reward was being placed in a pool with China and Australia, two of the top teams in the Asia region, and possibly the world. 
 
All games in a group are played in the same day in the 3x3 format. Though the games are only 10 minutes long, they are very physically demanding, especially when playing outdoors in 95-degree heat. The game is played on a half-court with one basket. The official court is 15 meters (49-feet) wide, which is the same as FIBA's standard for the full-court game. But is 11 meters (36' 1.07") in length compared to FIBA's standard half-court distance of 14 meters (45' 11.18"). The first 3x3 tournament was the FIBA 3x3 World Championship, held in August 2012 in Athens, Greece.
 
"We started pool play against China, and to be completely honest, they were some of the biggest and strongest girls I have ever seen," Dalton said. "Not only did they dominate us in the paint with their size, their three-point release was so quick."
 
That was followed by a match-up with rival, and 2019 & '17 Gold Medal winner, Australia. And though it may be a friendly rivalry in the big picture, there is certainly a lot of pride involved when taking on New Zealand's neighbors to the west.
 
"We had two hours to reflect on the loss to China and to prepare for Australia," Dalton said. "One of our taller teammates had to pull out of the tournament due to injury, so we were very undersized. It was still a great matchup, and a very close game going basket for basket. However, we had a couple calls that didn't go our way, and reached seven team fouls, which in 3x3 is a terrible position to be in. After Australia executed all of their free throws we found ourselves knocked out of the tournament.
 
"We were absolutely devastated, and it was hard because the two teams in our pool were the two teams in the Grand Final. We have grown a lot from this tournament and have a lot we can take away and learn from to get better."
 
China and Australia would duke it out for the championship, with China claiming the gold, Australia the silver, and Indonesia the bronze.  
 
Fresh off being named a WCC All-Academic Honorable Mention, Dalton was excited to do some traveling around the world too after COVID-19 kept that from being an option the past two years, even if her luggage got lost in France.
 
"Singapore is an absolutely awesome country, that made the whole journey even more of an experience," Dalton added. "To finish a game and step straight off the court overlooking an entire city with a beautiful waterfront view was overwhelming." 
 
Dalton will be waiting in the wings as a reserved for the Commonwealth Games if she is needed due to injury and will be there to encourage her teammates every step of the way in Birmingham, England from July 28 to August 6.