St Mary’s College, Wellington, is inscribed on the 2017 national secondary schools basketball title. But anyone who witnessed the final in Palmerston North that year would have been astonished by the performance of Charlisse Leger-Walker. The Year 11 guard from St Peter’s Cambridge scored 48 of her side’s 62 points in a six-point defeat.
“Mate, that was just three more layups,” St Peter’s coach Leanne Walker quipped to her daughter afterward. “Are you serious?” an exhausted Charlisse responded. It took 14 minutes into the game until another teammate scored a solitary point; Alana Paewai hit a free throw.
Combined, Leger-Walker’s teammates missed their first 10 shots from the field. The short exchange is typical between Mum and daughter; teasing, demanding, honest. Leanne Walker played 118 internationals for the Tall Ferns from 1992 to 2005.
Only Micaela Cocks has played more with 145. Additionally, she is New Zealand’s most capped female touch international. Charlisse Leger-Walker, a Tall Fern at 16, is bidding to become just the second New Zealander to play in the WNBA after two-time Olympian and Tall Ferns legend Megan Compain played the inaugural season of the league in 1997 for the Utah Starzz.
Leger-Walker would have been selected in the top 10 of the recent WNBA draft, but has put those ambitions on hold while she recovers from a serious knee injury. Instead, she entered college basketball’s transfer portal and will play her fifth and final year in.
