After spending the past five years playing college basketball in the United States, the Australian shooting guard has made her way across the Ditch to link up with the Southern Hoiho for the Tauihi Basketball Aotearoa.
"I’m very excited," Hurst said.
"The team is so great. It’s amazing people and girls who just make you laugh every day.
"[I’m] very excited for the season."
The 175cm shooting guard joins the Hoiho with a strong background and hoped to bring her three-point and tenacious defensive games to the team.
Growing up in Australia, Hurst (23) moved to Bendigo, Victoria, for basketball, coming through the junior and development pathways, winning gold for Vic-Country at the under-20 national championship and also winning a national title for Vic-Country.
She joined the University of New Mexico in 2018, earning a starting spot and playing big minutes in her freshman year, recording a career best of 39 points against Oklahoma.
After three years at New Mexico, Hurst committed her final two years to the University of Oregon, searching for an opportunity to play in a higher conference.
"I wanted to experience that and basically get to play against the best people in college in America," she said.
She finished school midway through last month, returning to Australia and spending nine days at home before she arrived in Dunedin last week.
The Tauihi league gets under way for its second season next week — the Hoiho play defending champions Tokomanawa Queens in Wednesday’s opener — and it is carving out a name for itself.
That was part of the reason she was keen to dip her toes into the league, Hurst said.
"This league is like a very good timeframe for moving into whatever’s next, so that was a big part of it as well.
"But also just, you know, this is a new league and it just seemed like a very popular league as well. A lot of people are coming to play here, so I was very excited about that.
"It’s going to be good competition and good growth.
"It’s a good little frame when coming out of college to get appointed to like pro-basketball, I guess."
She joins American Ashten Prechtel as the Hoiho’s second import. Zoe and Brittany Richards, Samara Gallaher, Tyler Mitchell, Caitlin O’Connell, Jennifer O’Connell, Abby Harris, Millie Simpson, Alexa Duff, Natalie Ivamy and Sophie Adams have also signed.
Natalie Visger and Dean Ruske have signed as assistant coaches, joining head coach Todd Marshall.
