UMass transfer Lilly Taulelei commits to Iowa State

Iowa State has landed University of Massachusetts transfer Lilly Taulelei, a source tells On3.

The 6-3 freshman averaged 6.7 points and 2.5 rebounds last season, while shooting 45% from the field.

Taulelei hails from Wellington, New Zealand, where she played professional basketball with the Tokomanawa Queens before coming to UMass. Additionally, she made the Wellington U19 Basketball Representative Team and was the first female in New Zealand basketball history to be selected to the Jr. NBA Asia Pacific Team.

The Cyclones have now added three players from the transfer portal, after securing a pair of commitments from TCU transfer Sydney Harris and more recently, Marquette guard Mackenzie Hare. Harris averaged 9.4 points, while Hare averaged 14 points and 3.4 assists while shooting 45.5% from the field. All three additions will be juniors next season. 

Iowa State will also return a pair of young stars in Audi Crooks and Addy Brown who had impressive freshman campaigns last season, along with veteran leader Emily Ryan. Crooks, a 6-3 center, averaged 19.2 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 58% from the field, which ranked 22nd in the country. Brown averaged 13 points, 8.2 rebounds and 4.8 assists. Crooks, Brown and Ryan were the Cyclones’ three leading scorers.