Height will be used to advantage
By Kayla Hodge - Otago Daily Times
It has been a crazy week for Ashten Prechtel.
The American import graduated from Stanford University with her undergraduate and master’s degrees in management, science and engineering on Sunday.
Then she was straight on a plane to New Zealand, touching down in Dunedin on Wednesday afternoon, and headed to the Edgar Centre to meet her new Southern Hoiho team-mates.
The 22-year-old brings a towering presence to the South, standing at 198cm, which will be drawn on as the Hoiho prepare for their opening Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa game against defending champions the Tokomanawa Queens, on July 12.
Prechtel grew up in Colorado, gaining exposure playing for Colorado Premier in the Elite Youth Basketball League for two years, before committing to Stanford in 2019.
It was an impressive reign during her tenure, the team winning the Pac-12 conference three times and being named NCAA champions in 2021.
Winning the championship was crazy, but came with its challenges due to Covid-19 restrictions, Prechtel said.
Her team was forced to spend 10 weeks on the road, living out of hotel rooms, and were not allowed to practise, or play, at Stanford’s campus.
"It was wild. We were getting tests like 10 times a week for Covid," Prechtel said.
"There was a lot of adversity throughout the season and in a way it kind of just prepared us for the championships.
"The way they did it that year was they put the entire tournament in San Antonio, so it was a bubble.
"But it was an incredible feeling and it made it all worth it — absolutely."
Following school, Prechtel was drafted to the Connecticut Sun in the WNBA but was cut after attending a training camp.
Her agent was in touch with Hoiho coach Todd Marshall, leading to her moving across the world and travelling to New Zealand for the first time.
"Here we are."
She was looking forward to settling in to the team more — "I’m really excited" — and being able to play with freedom again.
"I just want to be able to play freely and play my game.
"In college, you’re confined to a system and very specific roles, so I think this will be a great opportunity for me to kind of remember what my game was like beforehand and just a chance to play in a normal environment again."
She joins a Hoiho roster that is starting to take shape, with Zoe Richards, Samara Gallaher and Tyler Mitchell returning, and Caitlin O'Connell’s signing announced earlier this week.
O’Connell, originally from Taranaki, was named in the junior Tall Ferns squad in 2020 and played for the Otago Gold Rush in 2021.