Being surprised by her mum Robyn and brother Ben at shootaround on game day did wonders for Brooke Basham as she starred first up for the Tasmania Jewels but it's already a focus onto keeping that momentum going.
Having spent her life in Adelaide, the past 12 months has been all about stepping out of the comfort zone for Basham and it's paying the ultimate dividends with her now playing the best basketball of her life.
That started this past NBL1 season where she made the move to Far North Queensland to play with the Cairns Dolphins where she played a starring role on a team that finished the regular season in second place.
That saw her enjoy a whole new experience of spending a winter in a whole new environment where it hardly feels like a winter before now having made the move to Hobart and settling into a new life as part of the formation of the Jewels.
Basham was then out there to start last Thursday night in the eventual 103-90 victory at MyState Bank Arena against the Geelong Venom where she starred with 19 points, eight rebounds, four steals and three assists on 8/12 shooting from the field.
She couldn’t have imagined a better start, but it didn’t take long for her and the rest of the Jewels to turn their attention to focusing on this Thursday's first away game against the Southside Melbourne Flyers.
"Yeah absolutely (got over the high) and am onto the next job. I think we did a really, really good job of embracing the moment and celebrating our first win, but it's onto the next job already," Basham said.
"We had a day off the next day and then we were straight into training the following day focusing on Flyers. So we are very driven this week for sure."
It was an emotional game day all-round for Basham who was surprised at shootaround by an appearance by her mum Robyn and brother Ben who weren’t able to make it the previous day when the rest of the families of the players did their surprise appearance.
It was worth the wait for the 28-year-old and then the emotions spilled over again in the pre-game on Thursday night, but the whole experience of then getting to play in front of a sold out crowd is something she'll treasure forever.
"It was an amazing experience and for me personally, I don’t think I've ever played in front of that many people before especially in an incredible, unique place like MyState. It was incredible, it's hard to put into words," Basham said.
"I think running out for the first time and the intro videos got some of us girls a little bit emotional.
"We were kinda like getting ourselves all back together after that, but I think just running out and hearing the whole what felt like the whole of Tasmania cheering us on was incredible."
Not only could Basham feel the connection the Jewels already have with the 4000-plus people crammed into MyState Bank Arena last Thursday night, but with the whole state of Tasmania which is what makes being part of the team so special.
"We can really feel the connection with the whole community behind us and it's so evident everywhere that we go the support we have from the whole state," she said.
"It's so well-known and we play for the state so it's awesome to be part of."
Basham had a standout first up performance with the Jewels too on the back of the nine games she played in the NBL1 North with Cairns where she produced 21.2 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.9 assists and 2.2 steals on 52 per cent shooting from the field and 42 from the outside.
But she was more focused on the team performance and they couldn’t have clicked better first up to celebrate with the 13-point victory to make it a night to remember for everyone involved.
"Personally it was good, but I thought as a team we were just really, really aggressive," Basham said.
"We were on the front foot from the start and obviously Geelong are a really good team and they did fight back, but I thought we set the tone really aggressively. I think that's our identity moving forwards."
After enjoying that first win at home, the Jewels now hit the road for the first time in the WNBL this Thursday night when they take on the Southside Melbourne Flyers with Basham looking forward to the challenge.
"Southside are going to be super, super competitive and a physical team," Basham said.
"They're also young so I think it's going to be a really good challenge for us but I think we'll do a good job."
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