ASU Women’s Basketball: A Canadian’s journey to Tempe

(Photo: Riley Trujillo/WCSN)

In Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, freshman Taya Hanson grew up dreaming of playing basketball at the Division I level. In November 2018, Hanson began playing for Arizona State under legendary Head Coach Charli Turner Thorne.

A 5-foot-10-inch guard with broad shoulders, Hanson seemed destined to end up in Tempe from the very beginning. Halfway through her first year wearing Maroon and Gold, Hanson has played in all 20 games off the bench for a squad full of more experienced players.

Averaging around 15 minutes of play per game, Hanson has proven her competency on the court by taking on challenges offensively and defensively against some of top teams in the country. But before Hanson arrived in Tempe, she was living in a much different environment, chasing her dream of becoming a Division I basketball player, even if it meant playing through a broken shooting hand.

Hanson attended Kelowna Secondary School where she dominated both on and off the court. Ranked No. 18 at her position in the class of 2018 by ESPN, Hanson lead her Secondary School to their first 4A girls’ provincial championship in school history and was named the tournament MVP at the conclusion of the 2018 season.

Hanson would also lead Kelowna to a bronze medal in the provincial tournament while also doubling as a member of the track and field team.

Using her strength and athleticism to her advantage, Hanson began her career as a Canadian international long before her high school tenure had finished.

“Team Canada has been apart of my journey, basically since like day one with my basketball journey,” Hanson said.

Rightfully so. Hanson began playing for the U16 Canadian National Team at the age of 15, where she helped the cadet team win its first Gold Medal at the 2015 FIBA Americas competition.

A fiery competitor, Hanson played up the following summer as her cadet team then traveled to Zaragoza, Spain to play in the FIBA World Championships where they placed seventh.

At 17 years old, Hanson began playing as an alternate for the U19 National team and training with the U25 Senior team.

“It’s been really cool, it’s been such an honor to be able to represent my country,” Hanson said.

The now Sun Devil will represent her country one last time at the cadet level in Bangkok, Thailand at the FIBA World Championships in July 2019.

Hanson’s international experience has helped her to adjust well to playing in Tempe under Head Coach Charli Turner Thorne, where she competes among the best players in the country night in and night out.

Early on, Hanson has struggled offensively, but Turner Thorne believes her player is barely scratching the surface of her potential.

“Taya’s a stud, she is just working so hard, she is in our core rotation,” Turner Thorne said. “If you ask her, she will say she is not doing everything she can do, and I hope down the stretch she will.”

Part of the reason that Turner Thorne has a lot of faith in Hanson stems from her will to win on the court, and her relentless efforts to improve her game off it, even in spite of the adversity she faced.

Hanson suffered a spiral fracture in her metacarpal bone during the summer of 2016 while playing a pick up basketball game with friends shortly before traveling with her club basketball team, TRC Basketball Academy, to play in the Nike Nationals in Chicago.

“I actually did not know it was broken,” Hanson said. “I had heard a snap and a crack and everything, but I thought it might have been a slap on the arm.”

Hanson continued to play with a broken right hand by taping a sponge on top of her injured right hand and playing with only her left hand.

“Every single game, with only my left hand,” Hanson said on the adversity she faced. “I made like two threes with my left hand. I was like fifty percent from the free throw line. I was like not letting that set me back at all.”

Following Nationals, Hanson was in a cast for the rest of the summer, but it did not stop her from chasing her dreams of becoming a Division I athlete. She worked everyday on dribbling and finishing with her non-dominant left hand.

“It didn’t go as planned, playing with a broken hand, but I wanted to make the most of it and I feel like I did that,” Hanson said. “I was not letting it decrease my level of play. If anything, I was gonna make it increase my abilities.”

Two and a half years later, Hanson is playing a large role on a team poised to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.

Coach Turner Thorne believes that Hanson is the future of this veteran Sun Devil squad, already gaining valuable experience against some of the top players in the country while playing alongside a senior-laden team that is helping her grow.

“She is gonna be a star in this league I predict, because she had that passion for it,” Turner Thorne said.

Taya Hanson, of Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada, continues to prove she is ready for the challenges ahead, playing basketball in the Pac-12 Conference for a coach who has National Championship aspirations, playing for a country that craves the taste of Olympic Gold and representing a providence almost 1,200 miles away.

(Photo: Alex Roddier/WCSN)