New Zealand guard signs with UTC women

New University of Tennessee at Chattanooga women’s basketball coach Katie Burrows got her first scholarship signee this week, adding New Zealand combo guard Pareunuora Pene to the 2018-19 roster.

Pene, who currently plays for Rotorua of Tier Two in the Women’s Basketball Championship in New Zealand, plans to join UTC’s Mocs in August after the conclusion of her season.

The 5-foot-6 lefty point guard helped her team to a 2-1 record in the first tournament of the WBC season, averaging six points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.7 steals. Her best performance came in Rotorua’s lone defeat in the tournament when she had 10 points, four rebounds, four steals and a pair of assists in an 84-68 loss to the North Canterbury Spirit.

Her team plays again in the playoffs July 5-7 in New Zealand.

“She sees the floor well,” Burrows said. “She’s got great court vision and anticipates well defensively. She’s someone who is on edge all the time, and I think she will be a good on-ball defender. She can score in several different ways, and I like how she distributes the ball. She appears to be able to get people where she needs them to be, and she’s not afraid to tell them where to go.”

Para is the fourth addition to the 2018-19 signing class, joining November forward signings Abbey Cornelius and Eboni Williams and April signee Morgan Hill.

Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress. com. Follow him on Twitter @genehenley3.