Southside Flyers land priority signing in young future Opal Isabelle Bourne, following Adelaide Lightning departure

Isabelle Bourne defied the turmoil in Adelaide to become one of the WNBL’s most-sought-after young free agents. On the cusp of her Opals dream, she’s found a new home under a familiar face.

On the cusp of an Opals berth, young sharpshooter Isabelle Bourne has escaped a tumultuous period in Adelaide for a fresh start at Southside.

The 188cm power forward was one of this year’s most-sought-after young free agents but back-to-back NBL1 stints under Flyers coach Kristi Harrower at Keilor Thunder sealed the two-year deal.

“Kristi was (recruiting me) a little bit but she definitely gave me the space to make my own decision,” Bourne said.

“I’ve learned so much under her leadership and I really wanted to continue to grow that at Southside.”

Harrower said the rising star was a “priority” recruit.

“I have seen, first-hand, her work ethic and how she just wants to get better every single day,” Harrower said.

“Issie’s a young player who will be a future Opal … and we are thrilled she made the decision to join the Flyers.”

New Southside signing Issie Bourne's academia matches her basketball ability.

The 24-year-old stretch four’s personal improvement defied two seasons of team struggle and off-court turmoil in the City of Churches that culminated in the departure of coach Nat Hurst and put the Lightning’s future in doubt.

The Canberran has developed into one of the WNBL’s premier inside-outside talls, leading all rookies in scoring in her debut season and putting up 13 points, 4 rebounds and 1.5 assists across those two campaigns.

While she won’t comment on that difficult period all Lightning players had to navigate — Hurst was replaced by former Adelaide 36ers coach Scott Ninnis and the new WNBL consortium took the reigns from previous owner Pelligra — Bourne’s grateful for the lesson’s learned in her first two professional seasons.

“I’ve got a lot of good friends in Adelaide, so while it’s awesome to go to Southside, it was a really hard choice to move away,” she said.

“As much as it sucked to not have two seasons that we wanted, I still learnt a lot and value the time I had there.”

After missing the playoffs both seasons in Adelaide, Bourne joins a rebuilding Southside keen to rebound from the wooden spoon.

“Kristi’s focused on both on-court talent and off-court character, team-first basketball,” Bourne said.

“I’m really confident in her ability to recruit a team and create an environment where we can have a successful season and hopefully (finish) top four or even better, a championship.”

A championship would be special but Bourne is also focused on making her Opals dream a reality, fuelled by the “pinch me moment” of selection for next month’s Asia Cup in China.

“To actually get my name in the squad was awesome,” she said.

“It was exciting to feel that and have all those emotions — but then it was like, ‘I’m motivated now to make teams and go further with it’.”

Basketball’s the obsession but Bourne also has her head screwed on, ensuring she’s prepared for life after basketball after outstanding academic achievements at Nebraska — where she captained the Cornhuskers and claimed a swag of scholarly awards on her way to a communications degree.

“I do know that, at some point, basketball comes to an end and I’ve really been valuing off-court development,” she said, amid plans for a career in public relations.