Sharpshooter Berry to bolster women’s side in the NBL1 West 2023 season

New Zealand-born recruit Olivia Berry is set to join the Northern Star Resources Goldfields Giants women’s line up in the upcoming 2023 NBL1 West season. 

The 168cm point guard most recently played for Basketball New Zealand’s (BBNZ) Tall Ferns in a four-game pre-season tour against Australian WNBL teams: Southside Flyers, Melbourne Boomers, and Bendigo Spirit.  

Berry said the tour was a “really good learning experience”.  

“For someone like me who never went to college in the States, I kind of got into basketball more like seriously a little bit late. Like basically just this year, I started taking it serious,” she said.  

“Yeah, so going on this tour was really beneficial to my learning”. 

Head coach Rob Thomson said he was chasing a point guard for the upcoming season and Berry fits the role “really well”. 

“She's been playing in the New Zealand league which is their equivalent to our NBL1 and has struggled a little bit for opportunity because she has been playing behind some bigger players and imports and things like that,” he said. 

The recruit said she is “totally open to a completely novel experience” and she is looking forward to the “newness of it all”. 

Berry played the regular 2022 season for Northern K?hu in the inaugural Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa league following her three years with Auckland Dream in the former BBNZ National Basketball League. 

“I played point guard for the majority of my time playing and then it was only the past couple years that I kind of slid over into the shooting guard, so I can kind of do either,” she said. 

“I do like to talk – I’m quiet off court, but on court I like to talk and get the communication going - I would say interactive”. 

Starting basketball at the age of seven, the 26-year-old said she was “kind of dragged” to a mini-ball session and despite being a soccer player, fell in love with basketball. 

She played for her regional team North Harbour until 2019 and also played on the University of Auckland team as she studied for a degree in criminology and psychology. 

On taking on a leadership role, Berry said she thinks “that will be the role I’m expected to fill”. 

“I do have experience doing that, I was captain in my high school team and captain of the University of Auckland team I played in so I am used to doing that in some respects - so totally happy to do that again,” she said. 

“I will be bringing a point guard and I think a defensive focus – people have described me as fast and aggressive. 

“From what I've spoken about with Rob, we want to increase the emphasis on defence and the role that it plays in the game and winning games. So I would like to include that a little bit more and pushing the ball speed offensively and tenacity on the defensive side. 

Thomson said Berry suffered a knee injury five years ago but has worked her way back. 

“She's shown enough to be selected in the national team that recently toured Melbourne in a four game series against some of the WNBL teams,” he said. 

“I was lucky enough to catch up and watch one of their games and you could clearly see she has a lot of skill and talent and just her enthusiasm and intensity on the court. I think she's gonna be outstanding for us so we're pretty excited. 

Thomson expects Berry will take easily to leadership as a player but also sees her helping out “from the coaching side of things”.  

“Especially playing under Guy Malloy for the national team, Tall Ferns – she’s played under some pretty decent coaches and things like that so I think she will be able to challenge us with some different ideas and ways of doing things,” he said.  

“I think she's looking forward to that side of it as well.  

“We’re still pretty young and new to this competition and although we had a decent first year, we’ve still got to continue to learn and improve and I think she'll help us do that”. 

Berry is expected to arrive to Kalgoorlie-Boulder in February to join the pre-season training schedule ahead of the first Giants game of the season on April 1, 2023.