A short, sharp taste of Kiwi for a champion Aussie

New Zealand was the last place Australian basketball forward Lou Brown expected to play.
The winner of two Australian National Basketball League titles spent seven years in America and was settled back in Australia when a buzz around the Tauihi League piqued her interest. 
“I first heard about the Tauihi league when I was talking to a youth coach at Frankston. The shorter duration of the season and something different not too far from home appealed,” Brown explained. 
“Trouble was I knew nobody in New Zealand and didn’t have an agent representing me. When Tony [her Frankston coach] revealed he knew Justin Nelson things happened quickly.”
Nelson had moved from Melbourne to New Zealand in February 2019 and is the head of commercial and events at Sky Sport. The sports commentator was influential in the creation of the Tauihi League which is a built-from-scratch pro league for women that has received no government funding or support. 
Yet after two seasons (67 games) it has doubled player payments, making it one of the only sports leagues in the world where women are paid more than men. Over in a dozen weeks, other innovations include player-called timeouts, six personal fouls like the NBA, and a Rapid League which serves a role in player development and provides a genuinely entertaining curtain-raiser beforehand. 
Uniquely, each franchise has also adopted an indigenous name, something Brown found attractive. 
“The indigenous names are special. In my short time with the Queens, it’s amazing how the culture of the team has been enriched by the unique character New Zealand has to offer.”
Brown has been quick to stamp her character on the Tauihi League. In her debut against the Southern Hoiho, she scored 25 points and collected 16 rebounds in a 73-68 win.
The Queens couldn’t topple defending champions Nothern Kāhu on Sunday, but the 75-72 defeat was much closer than the 2023 grand final which was lost 98-72. Brown has added a harder edge to the Queens’ defence, snatching another 15 rebounds to go with seven points.
“Physical is my game,” Brown proudly emphasises. “I like to get after players a little bit. If I can lay a foundation by getting a few rebounds and playing tough early on it puts me in good stead and hopefully gets the rest of the team going.”
Brown grew up in Melbourne playing tennis and athletics. When a friend of her parents Stephen and Nicola said “Your daughter’s tall,” Brown took up basketball where she enjoyed huge age group success in Australia. She helped Victoria win National Under 16, 18 and 20 titles. 
In 2012, Brown helped Australia to a fifth-place finish at the FIBA U17 World Championships in Amsterdam, averaging a team-best 8.4 rebounds per game. A year later she assisted Australia in a third-place finish at the FIBA U19 World Championships in Lithuania. 
It was a trip to America with the Australian Institute of Sport, though, that left the biggest impression on young Brown.  
“It was insane. I couldn’t believe the size of the college programmes and the love they had for females. They were like superstars. I was determined to get a slice of it,” Brown reflected.
“I put my name into a portal and remarkably a bunch of coaches contacted me on Facebook. It seemed so casual for something so big.”
Brown settled at Washington State University, a Divison 1 school where she majored in sports management and played for the Cougars from 2014 to 2018. She started 71 of 95 games averaging 5.6 points and rebounds per game. She hit 80 three-pointers in 245 attempts and her career highs included 16 points vs. Nebraska (11/26/16) and 16 rebounds vs. Oklahoma State (11/20/16).
“We played in the Pac-12 conference which was a faster-paced game with lots of ball movement and quick shots,” Brown reflected. 
“I struggle to recall specific moments or games. For me, it’s always about the relationships you have with people. I met some of my best friends in Washington, including my second Mum, June Daugherty.”
June Daugherty was a coach at Boise State, Washington, and Washington State Universities from 1989 to 2018. She fashioned a 443–431 record, including a dozen trips to the NCAA and WNIT National tournaments.  Daugherty died after heart failure in 2021.
“June was an incredible person, a home away from home, a safe place for foreign players where homesickness could be a challenge,” Brown said.
“The biggest thing June taught me was resilience and perseverance. If you had things going on off the court she was prepared to listen and work with you through that while providing a clear pathway to succeed in basketball with a good grasp of fundamentals and routines.”
Brown would need ample resilience and perseverance to transfer to the University of Tennessee. The first Australian to represent the Lady Volunteers (Lady Vols) tore her anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) before she’d even played a game. In 2019 she was granted an additional season of eligibility by the NCAA.
The University of Tennessee boasts one of the most decorated sports programmes in America. For 38 years the Lady Vols were coached by Pat Summit who never had a losing season. At the time of her retirement in 2012 Summit had won more games 1098 (at 84 percent) and NCAA Division 1 titles (8) than any other coach in history.  In 1984, the Summit-coached US team won the Olympic gold medal in Los Angeles.
“Going from west to south was so different; a culture shock, for sure. Fried alligator, fried things I didn’t know you could fry. Small town to big town. But that’s why I transferred. I wanted something completely different,” Brown said.
“The SEC (Southeastern Conference) was a war every game. The crowds were massive and the play was real physical, a battle of attrition.”
“Pat is everywhere. There is a huge statue of her outside the stadium called the Summit. Pat built basketball for women in America so her values are installed and her legacy palpably.
“It does create a huge pressure for the coaches because everything they do is measured against Pat. It’s not so bad for the players. We’re able to go out there and express ourselves but it can be intense.”
Despite a respectable 172-67 record Holly Warlick was sacked as coach in Brown’s tenure at Tennessee which yielded a record 31 games in her final 2019/20 season. Brown shot at 41 percent from the field and 86 percent from the charity stripe. She collected 4.6 rebounds per game and earned a Master’s degree in communication.
Toughened in the US, Brown has become a staple in the Australian National Basketball League which has run continuously since 1981. She was a championship winner with the Melbourne Boomers (16-6 record) in 2021-2022 averaging 11 points and 12 rebounds per game.
She was even more prolific last season with the Southern Flyers (17-10 record) contributing an average of 14 points and a dozen rebounds a game. 
While in Melbourne, Brown hosted an engaging sports podcast, Women With Drive.