Waite living out Lynx dream as a teenager

Having now just finished school, Kiara Waite is living out her dream of playing for the Perth Lynx and she had a night she’ll never forget on Wednesday scoring her first WNBL points in a big win against the Townsville Fire.

Waite is in her first season at the Lynx having only just recently finished life at high school and just last week having attended leavers to celebrate, and she had a night she’ll treasure forever on Wednesday at Bendat Basketball Centre.

The 17-year-old had previously hit the floor twice this season as a rookie with the Lynx and had a rebound in the season-opening win against the Southside Flyers, but that all changed on Wednesday night.

She came on shortly before half-time against Townsville and knocked down a three-pointer for the first points of her WNBL career.

Then just minutes later she took the ball inside and finished strongly and converted that into a three-point play before also nailing another three-pointer in the final quarter with the Lynx on the way to the 106-80 victory.

She finished with nine points in a night she’ll never forget and afterwards, she was just thankful to the opportunity provided by coach Ryan Petrik and support of all her teammates including Olympians Anneli Maley and Ally Wilson.

“It definitely was amazing and just having the trust from Ryan, and the belief from the girls really helps you get in behind that,” Waite said.

“Having those girls behind my back and giving me that confidence is amazing to have.”

Waite had always been earmarked as an emerging talent through the junior ranks in West Australian basketball and then burst onto the NBL1 West scene this past 2024 season at the Willetton Tigers.

Playing under two-time championship winning coach Simon Parker and with teammates like Desiree Kelley, Amy and Claire Jacobs, Melisa Brcaninovic and Jillian Archer she thrived.

She finished with 5.7 points and 5.6 rebounds a game including 15 points in the semi finals against the Perry Lakes Hawks to now have already played 59 games at that level while still a teenager.

Waite had dreamed of playing in the WNBL and to now be already getting the chance to live it out, and contribute on the floor is everything she hoped it would be and more.

“It’s amazing living this out and it does not match up at all. It’s just amazing to just be able to be here with these girls,” she said.

“These girls are amazing and I’ve never met a better group of girls who have been so comforting and welcoming to me. It’s just amazing, it’s a dream come true.”

Waite got her first chance to play on the big stage as part of HoopsFest in the pre-season games the Lynx played at both RAC Arena and HBF Stadium which she felt helped get her ready for the WNBL season proper.

“It was a chance to be able to show Ryan what I can do and just to be able to have fun out there playing basketball and trying new things out with the girls,” she said.

“I just wanted to try and show what I can do.”

Then in the bigger picture, Waite is just still blown away that in the same year she has just finished high school, she’s already living the dream of a WNBL player.

“What my plan was initially was to get a job and all that when I finished school, but this was one of my dreams as a kid,” Waite said.

“To have that given to you by Ryan is amazing and I can’t thank anybody enough for it. There’s nothing else I would rather be doing.”

Lynx coach Petrik had heard for a long time about this talented player coming through the ranks at Willetton who was mature both with her basketball IQ and physically for her age.

However, it wasn’t until he laid eyes on her playing in person when he knew that he had to have her in the Lynx set up.

“When we first saw her play we thought she was way older that first time we got eyes on her,” Petrik said.

“We had been told for a while this kid coming through is really good and then when you first see her, you think it can’t be her but there she was. We see her playing for Willetton and we’d been told to keep an eye on her for a while, but normally 17-year-olds play differently to that.

“Even then, we’ve seen her do it in practice and we see her do it at HoopsFest, and every time we took her off the court we got killed. So we know we have a really special one on our hands and she’s just 17, so we are only scratching the surface with what she’ll do long-term.”