Mackenzie Clinch Hoycard (born 29 October 1998) is an Australian professional basketball player for the Warwick Senators of the NBL1 West. She is also contracted with the Perth Lynx of the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). She played a season of college basketball for the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine before starting her WNBL career as a development player with the 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 Senators.

Early life and college career
Clinch Hoycard was born and raised in Kalgoorlie, Western Australia. She attended 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 college basketball in the United States with the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine in the Big West Conference of the NCAA Division I.

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 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.

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 cysts. Her return to Western Australia resulted in multiple State Basketball League (SBL) offers, but she elected to play for her hometown Goldfields Giants with the Division 1 women's team in 2019.

Professional career
Clinch Hoycard moved to Perth in 2020 to play for the Warwick Senators in the SBL. After the SBL season was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, 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 Perth Lynx of the Women's National Basketball League (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. She then re-joined the Lynx as a development player for the 2021–22 WNBL season, where she averaged 1.2 points in 10 games. The Lynx made the WNBL grand final series in 2021–22, where they lost to the Melbourne Boomers.

In 2022, Clinch Hoycard helped the Senators reach the NBL1 West grand final, where they defeated the Willetton Tigers 87–61 to win the championship. 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 with an 83–75 win over the Ringwood Hawks 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 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 and is set to re-join the Lynx for the 2023–24 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 Goldfields Giants women's team in the NBL1 West in 2022.

References

External links

NBL1 profile
Hawaii Rainbow Wahine college bio

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