Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard (born 29 October 1998) is an Australian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the Southern Districts Spartans of the

NBL1 North NBL1 North, formerly the Queensland Basketball League (QBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Queensland and Northern Territory, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Queensland partnered wit ...

. She is also contracted with the

Perth Lynx The Perth Lynx are an Australian professional basketball team based in Perth, Western Australia. The Lynx compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at Bendat Basketball Centre. For sponsorship reasons, t ...

of the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is the pre-eminent professional women's basketball league in Australia. It is currently composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the women's counterpart to the National Baske ...

(WNBL). She played a season of

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine before starting her WNBL career as a development player with the Perth Lynx in 2020. In 2022, she became a fully contracted player with the Lynx and won the NBL1 West championship and NBL1 National championship with the

Warwick Senators Warwick Senators is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Stirling Basketball Association (SBA), the major administrative basketball organisa ...

Early life and college career

Clinch Hoycard was born and raised in

Kalgoorlie Kalgoorlie is a city in the Goldfields–Esperance region of Western Australia, located east-northeast of Perth at the end of the Great Eastern Highway. It is sometimes referred to as Kalgoorlie–Boulder, as the surrounding urban area includ ...

Western Australia Western Australia (commonly abbreviated as WA) is a state of Australia occupying the western percent of the land area of Australia excluding external territories. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Southern Ocean to th ...

. She attended St Mary's Primary School and John Paul College and played in the Kalgoorlie-Boulder Basketball Association for Christian Brothers College (CBC) Basketball Club. She was selected to the Australian U17 Sapphires squad in 2014 and the Australian U19 Gems squad in 2015 and 2016. In November 2016, Clinch Hoycard signed to play

in the United States with the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine in the

Big West Conference The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...

of the

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of College athletics, intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major ...

. As a freshman at Hawaii in 2017–18, Clinch Hoycard was limited to 13 games due to injury. She missed the start of the season, making her debuting on 30 December 2017 against Hawaii Pacific. She had career highs of nine points and six rebounds against

Long Beach State California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...

on 24 February 2018. She averaged 1.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in 9.1 minutes per game. In October 2018, just weeks before the start of the 2018–19 season, Clinch Hoycard left the Rainbow Wahine program and returned to Australia citing

homesickness Homesickness is the distress caused by being away from home.Kerns, Brumariu, Abraham. Kathryn A., Laura E., Michelle M.(2009/04/13). Homesickness at summer camp. Merrill-Palmer Quarterly, 54. Its cognitive hallmark is preoccupying thoughts of home ...

. After struggling with a mystery foot injury for six years, Clinch Hoycard underwent successful surgery in November 2018 after it was discovered she had two

bone cyst A bone cyst or geode is a cyst that forms in bone. Types include: * Unicameral bone cyst * Aneurysmal bone cyst * Traumatic bone cyst Diagnosis On CT scans, bone cysts that have a radiodensity of 20 Hounsfield units (HU) or less, and are osteoly ...

s. Her return to Western Australia resulted in multiple

State Basketball League NBL1 West, formerly the State Basketball League (SBL), is a semi-professional basketball league in Western Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2020, Basketball Western Australia partnered with the National Basketball L ...

(SBL) offers, but she elected to play for her hometown

Goldfields Giants Goldfields Giants is an NBL1 West club based in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The team is affiliated with Kalgoorlie-Boulder Basketball Association (KBBA), the major administrative ...

with the Division 1 women's team in 2019.

Professional career

Clinch Hoycard moved to

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

in 2020 to play for the

in the SBL. However, the SBL season was cancelled due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

. During the 2020 lockdowns, she began experiencing pain and swelling in her ankles after taking up

running Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...

to keep fit. She was subsequently diagnosed with

arthritis Arthritis is a term often used to mean any disorder that affects joints. Symptoms generally include joint pain and stiffness. Other symptoms may include redness, warmth, swelling, and decreased range of motion of the affected joints. In som ...

. Due to the excruciating pain she would endure from a rolled ankle, she began avoiding playing in the keyway and in the

post Post or POST commonly refers to: *Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries **An Post, the Irish national postal service **Canada Post, Canadian postal service **Deutsche Post, German postal service **Iraqi Post, Ira ...

and instead focused on becoming an elite shooter. She played for the Senators in the West Coast Classic and averaged 12.67 points, 7.08 rebounds and 2.67 assists in 12 games. In November 2020, Clinch Hoycard joined the

of the

(WNBL) as a development player for the WNBL Hub season in Queensland. She appeared in five games during the season. Clinch Hoycard re-joined the Senators for the inaugural NBL1 West season in 2021, where she averaged 15.71 points, 6.62 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 1.29 steals in 21 games. She shot a league-leading 44.44% from 3-point range. Clinch Hoycard re-joined the Lynx as a development player for the

2021–22 WNBL season The 2021–22 WNBL season is the 42nd season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Southside Flyers were the defending champions, however they failed to qualify for finals. The Melbourne Boomers won their second championship, de ...

. After twelve months of being on medication for ankle arthritis, her knee began swelling too. She required three cortisone injections and had her knee drained three times during 2021–22 despite spending just over 26 minutes on court across the entire season. She began taking

Sulfasalazine Sulfasalazine, sold under the brand name Azulfidine among others, is a medication used to treat rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, and Crohn's disease. It is considered by some to be a first-line treatment in rheumatoid arthritis. It is ...

twice per day and

Methotrexate Methotrexate (MTX), formerly known as amethopterin, is a chemotherapy agent and immune-system suppressant. It is used to treat cancer, autoimmune diseases, and ectopic pregnancies. Types of cancers it is used for include breast cancer, leuke ...

once per month, which helped her long term. She averaged 1.2 points in 10 games during her second season. The Lynx made the WNBL grand final series in 2021–22, where they lost to the

Melbourne Boomers The Melbourne Boomers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Boomers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play the majority of their home games at Melbourne Sports Centre – Pa ...

. In

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; 2022 Sri Lankan protests, Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretari ...

, Clinch Hoycard helped the Senators reach the NBL1 West grand final, where they defeated the

Willetton Tigers Willetton Tigers is an NBL1 West club based in Perth, Western Australia. The club fields a team in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 West. The club is a division of Willetton Basketball Association (WBA), the major administrative basketball organi ...

87–61 to win the

championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

. She had 15 points and 13 rebounds. In 21 games, she averaged 13.86 points, 7.76 rebounds, 3.05 assists and 1.86 steals per game. At the NBL1 National Finals, the Senators were crowned

national champions National champions are corporations which are technically private businesses but due to governmental policy are ceded a dominant position in a national economy. In this system, these large organizations are expected not only to seek profit but als ...

with an 83–75 win over the

Ringwood Hawks Ringwood may refer to: Places Australia * Ringwood, New South Wales, in Federation Council area * Ringwood, Queensland * Ringwood, Victoria, a suburb of Melbourne **Ringwood railway station, Melbourne Canada *Ringwood, Ontario, a hamlet in the tow ...

in the championship game. Clinch Hoycard had 11 points, five rebounds and three steals. For the 2022–23 WNBL season, Clinch Hoycard was elevated to the Lynx's main roster as a fully contracted player. She scored a season-high 10 points against the

Townsville Fire The Townsville Fire are an Australian professional female basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). They are the only female professional sporting team of any discipline in the northern half of Australia. The t ...

on 17 December 2022. In 23 games, she averaged 4.0 points and 1.8 rebounds per game. Clinch Hoycard re-joined the Senators for the 2023 NBL1 West season. In 22 games, she averaged 14.18 points, 10.64 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.0 steals per game. Clinch Hoycard re-joined the Lynx for the

2023–24 WNBL season The 2023–24 WNBL season is the 44th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Townsville Fire were the defending champions, but were defeated in the Semi-Finals by Perth. The Southside Flyers won their fifth championship ti ...

. On 13 December 2023, scored a career-high 15 points in a career-high 28 minutes in a 98–58 win over the

Sydney Flames The Sydney Flames are an Australian professional basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a b ...

. The Lynx made the WNBL grand final series in 2023–24, where they lost to the

Southside Flyers The Southside Flyers are a professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League ( WNBL). The club is based in Dandenong, Melbourne, Victoria. The team was founded as the Dandenong Rangers, however before the ...

. She averaged 5.5 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 26 games. Clinch Hoycard joined the Southern Districts Spartans of the

for the 2024 season. On 16 July 2024, Clinch Hoycard re-signed with the Lynx for the 2024–25 WNBL season.

Personal life

Clinch Hoycard is the daughter of Craig Hoycard and Fiona Clinch. She has two younger sisters, Emmett and Alexanda. Alexanda played for the inaugural

women's team in the NBL1 West in 2022.

References

External links

NBL1 profileHawaii Rainbow Wahine college bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Clinch Hoycard, Mackenzie 1998 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian women's basketball players Forwards (basketball) Hawaii Rainbow Wahine basketball players Perth Lynx players Sportspeople from Kalgoorlie