Eziyoda's Story
Fast Facts
Sport: Basketball
Event: Women's
Olympic History: Tokyo 2020
Year Born: 1999
Born: Wellington, NZ
About Ezi
It’s fitting Ezi is a Coburg Giants junior as she’s taken some big steps in her basketball career.
Then again, she wasn’t hard to miss with her athletic skills and composure – she was already 193cm tall in her early teens.
Ezi caught the eye of Basketball Australia officials at the U18s Australian Junior Championships in 2015, reaching double figures in six of her nine games.
She made her international debut at the 2015 FIBA U19s World Championship where the Australians took bronze. She then represented the U17s Sapphires at the Oceania Championships later that year.
At that tournament the Sapphires booked their place in the 2016 World Cup, with Eziyoda helping the team to an inaugural gold medal - beating USA in the semis and Italy in the final.
It was gold again at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and that led to a spot in the Opals FIBA World Cup side that same year, where the Opals won silver. It was their best finish at a World Cup since winning the gold in 2006.
In March 2018 Ezi signed a three-year deal with the Deakin Melbourne Boomers in the WNBL, ignoring the advances of a string of US colleges. She was named Rookie of the Year.
But the lure of overseas experience led to WNBA team Seattle Storm – the former home of Ezi’s idol Lauren Jackson – picking her in the 2019 draft.
Then she helped Storm to their fourth WNBA title in 2020, over the Las Vegas Aces.
At the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics - in 2021 - the Opals played Belgium (L 85-70), China (L 76-74) and Puerto Rico (W 96-69) in the group phase. In the quarter-finals they squared off against the USA, losing to the eventual Olympic champions 79-55 and finishing 8th in the tournament.
Ezi played in all four matches, averaging 12.5 points, 4.5 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steal in 23.6 minutes per game.
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