Bourne ready: Issie Bourne's star is still rising

Results didn’t go the rising star’s way this season in Adelaide, but her hard work is finally paying off amid a stunning breakout that’s seen her become an Opal and Gangurru.

Photo credit: FIBA 3X3

Issie Bourne remembers the moment everything changed this summer.

It was the end of January, and the Lightning had just suffered another brutal defeat, this time in Bendigo. They’d narrowly fallen to the eventual champs, the latest frustrating loss in a season full of them. There was plenty to think about, first in the locker room, then on the long bus trip back to Tullamarine airport. Bourne had even more time to marinate in the loss, left in the airport lounge as her team-mates began boarding a flight back to Adelaide. She was headed back to Canberra for her sister’s Hens party, so she sat by herself, lost in an endless stream of thoughts while awaiting a later flight.

It was a miserable wait, and one made all the more frustrating by her own efforts against the Spirit. Bourne finished with 10 points and three rebounds, both below her season averages, but most disappointingly, was bested by Kelsey Griffin. She had 19 and 14, but more importantly, also finished the night with a win.

As Bourne sat waiting, it just seemed like one of those days where nothing had gone quite right. At least until everything flipped.

“I just got his message saying, ‘Hi, it’s Sandy, do you have a second to talk?’” Bourne recalls. “I was immediately shaking when I saw that message.”

Sandy, as in Brondello. Bourne had never spoken to the Opals coach before, and the number wasn’t one she had saved. The shaking subsided - at least slightly - as she called the number, hopeful, but not 100% certain it wasn’t some kind of strange prank.

“She obviously first up said, ‘I want to say congratulations, you’re in the Opals and that sorta stuff, and then talked about what she’s looking for in the Opals, and what she wants me to work on, how she wants me to approach the camp,” Bourne recalls. “I think she just wants me to be a sponge going into camp, that was the main focus of the chat, and just take as much as I can from it, and learn as much as I can when I get there.”

As the call ended, any frustrations had fizzled, with any pent up anger making way for euphoria. Bourne was invited to next month’s training camp, and suddenly, everything seemed different.

Despite the most brutal season of her blossoming career - one which saw Adelaide fall short of all expectations - this is how one of Australia’s most promising young stars is now exceeding all of her individual expectations.