Samia speaks highly of McDaniel, who has earned her stripes with two Women's Basketball Championship crowns and has the backing of assistant coaches and ex-Tall Ferns Jody Cameron and Gina Farmer.
"She's very straightforward and she knows what she wants and she's keen," says the teenager of McDaniel, of Christchurch.
Samia and her teammates will undergo a christening of sorts in a country where even the Tall Ferns had to exorcise their demons when they competed in the Women's Asia Cup in July this year.
The Kiwi female flagship team encountered food poisoning amid the sultry conditions.
"The place we're staying at is like a five-star hotel and I'm pretty sure most of the teams will be staying there, too, so the food should be good," Samia says, revealing they have had their share of immunisation and vaccinations.
The Napier Girls High School student, who will be "stoked" if picked for the starting five, says they will be in Bengaluru four days before the cup tips off to help acclimatise.
It's her second trip abroad after returning from China as a New Zealand under-16 volleyball representative in March as a setter and, while the conditions are in contrast with India, she sees it all as variables in helping mould a solid template in a bid to become a total athlete.
For instance, China was cold and the food didn't tingle her tastebuds.
"I hated it. I didn't like [the food] at all," says Samia, who found the Oriental takeaways in New Zealand isn't really a preamble.
Duck and raw fish, to name a couple, didn't do it for her, although the chuckling teenager agrees her father, volleyball coach Alani Samia, is of Samoan heritage and took them to the islands when they were children.
"I love curries and that sort of stuff so I should be all right," says Samia, who enjoys mother Kath's chicken roasts. Kath is an administrator of Basketball Hawke's Bay.
The Kiwis are confident of making the top four against court-savvy Asian sides and Australia.
Samia hasn't played China or Japan in basketball but is mindful they bring a level of athleticism and regimented approach to sport that can be stifling.
About 30 players attended trials in Christchurch in December last year and that squad was trimmed to 15 in April before the final cull to a dozen.
She says investing her own time and effort keeps her honest in a province that is isolated from mainstream women's basketball.
Training alongside and playing against male counterparts has also made a difference.
"I've also been training with St John's College boys in Hastings," says the 1.72m shooting guard, who also has been receiving training from Hastings Boys High School coach Regan Spooner with a nucleus of representative players, including her sister, Melika, 13, of NGHS, an NZ under-16 rep, and Spooner's son.
"My intensity has improved. I'm playing more smarter and my shooting under pressure has improved."
Samia, who was under the tutelage of former Taylor Corporation Hawks assistant coach Shane Brown, an NGHS coach, was competing at the secondary schools nationals in Palmerston last week under "straight-up, intense, yelling" from former Hawks coach Kirstin Daly-Taylor who took over recently.
The Year 12 pupil hopes to secure an overseas basketball scholarship in the United States when she graduates from NGHS at the end of next year.
NZ U17 girls' team: Ella Bradley (Waikato Basketball Council), Isabelle Cook (Taranaki Country BA), Tayla Dalton (North Harbour Basketball), Charlisse Leger-Walker (Waikato BC), Paris Lokotui (Wellington BA), Jordyn Maddix (North Harbour Basketball), Helen Matthews (North Canterbury BA), Kyra Paniora (Brisbane, Australia), Sharne Pupuke-Robati (Auckland/Counties-Manukau), Briarley Rogers (Tauranga City BA), Rosalia Samia (Basketball Hawke's Bay), Tessalonia Talo-Tomokino (North Harbour Basketball).
Coach: Lori McDaniel.
Assistant coaches: Gina Farmer, Jody Cameron.
Manager: Ushma Shah.
