HONOLULU — University of Hawai'i guard Bailey Flavell will continue pursuing her Olympic goals when she joins New Zealand's women's national team for the FIBA Pre-Olympic Qualification Tournament. The eight-team tournament is set for Aug. 17-23 in Guadalajara, Mexico.
 
The event represents the first step in the Tall Ferns' quest for a berth in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. New Zealand will compete in Group A along with Brazil, Argentina and South Sudan. Group B is composed of Canada, Mexico, the Philippines and Senegal.
 
The teams will play a single round-robin format with the top two teams in each group advancing to the semifinals. The winner of the final on Aug. 23 earns a spot in the FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournaments 2028.
 
Flavell previously played with the Tall Ferns in the FIBA World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament in 2024 and in the FIBA Asia Cup last year.
 
The Rainbow Wahine sophomore made an immediate impact upon joining the UH program last season. She started all 33 games and set the program's freshman scoring record with 415 points. She averaged 12.6 points per game, becoming the fifth freshman in program history and the first since the 2010-11 season to lead the team in scoring. She was named the Big West Freshman of the Year and was selected to the All-Big West Second Team and the conference's All-Freshman Team.