Isabelle Bourne (born 21 November 2000) is an Australian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the Keilor Thunder of the

NBL1 South NBL1 South is a semi-professional basketball league in Victoria (state), Victoria and Tasmania, Australia, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2019, Basketball Victoria partnered with the National Basketball League (Australia), ...

. She is also contracted with the

Southside Flyers The Southside Flyers are an Australian professional basketball team based in Melbourne, Victoria. The Flyers compete in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) and play their home games at the State Basketball Centre. For sponsorship pur ...

of the

Women's National Basketball League The Women's National Basketball League (WNBL) is a professional women's basketball list of basketball leagues, league in Australia composed of eight teams. The league was founded in 1981 and is the Women's sports, women's counterpart to the Na ...

(WNBL). She began her career in

Canberra Canberra ( ; ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the Federation of Australia, federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's list of cities in Australia, largest in ...

, debuting for the

Canberra Capitals The University of Canberra Capitals are an Australian professional women's basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). The team is based in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory. In 2014 the University of Canberr ...

in the WNBL in 2016–17 and playing in the

South East Australian Basketball League The South East Australian Basketball League (SEABL) was a semi-professional basketball league in Australia comprising both a men's and women's competition. The SEABL began in 1981 and operated for 38 seasons until it was disbanded in 2018. The ...

(SEABL) for the

BA Centre of Excellence The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Australian Capital Territory, Bruce, Can ...

. She played four years of

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

in the United States for the

Nebraska Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and competes in NCAA Division I, fielding t ...

between 2019 and 2023 before returning to Australia to start her professional career in the WNBL. She played for the

Adelaide Lightning The Adelaide Lightning are an Australian professional basketball team competing in the Women's National Basketball League (WNBL). The club is based in the city of Adelaide, South Australia, and will play their home games at the State Basketball ...

between 2023 and 2025. In 2024, she was named the NBL1 South Most Valuable Player playing for the Keilor Thunder.

Early life and career

Bourne is a product of the Norths Junior Club in

and Basketball ACT high performance programs. She represented ACT at both the U16 and U18 National Junior Championships. She attended

Daramalan College Daramalan College is a Roman Catholic high school in Canberra, Australia, located in the suburb of Dickson. It encompasses Year 7 to Year 12, in a co-educational environment. Run by the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart, it has an emblem of a re ...

in Canberra. In 2016, Bourne played for the Canberra Capitals Academy in the

(SEABL). In 17 games, she averaged 7.1 points and 4.5 rebounds per game. Bourne joined the University of Canberra Capitals of the

(WNBL) as a development player for the 2016–17 season. She appeared in one game during the season. Bourne joined the

as a scholarship athlete in 2017. She played for the Centre of Excellence in the SEABL, averaging 6.4 points and 4.0 rebounds in 14 games in 2017, and 11.2 points, 5.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists in 20 games in 2018. Bourne re-joined the Canberra Capitals for the

2018–19 WNBL season The 2018–19 WNBL season is the 39th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Townsville Fire were the defending champions, however they failed to qualify for the finals. Canberra Capitals won their record eighth champions ...

, where she once again appeared in one game. The Capitals won the WNBL championship in 2018–19. Bourne joined the

Geelong Supercats Geelong United is a NBL1 South club based in Geelong, Geelong, Victoria. Previously known as the Geelong Supercats, the club fields teams in both the Men's and Women's NBL1 South. The club is affiliated with Geelong United Basketball and plays ...

of the

NBL1 The NBL1 is a semi-professional basketball league in Australia run by the National Basketball League (NBL). The league consists of five conferences: NBL1 South, NBL1 North, NBL1 Central, NBL1 West and NBL1 East, with each consisting of bot ...

for the league's inaugural season in 2019. She missed the NBL1 finals due to leaving for the U.S. to start her college career. In 15 games, she averaged 9.0 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 1.1 steals per game.

College career

In November 2018, Bourne signed a

National Letter of Intent The National Letter of Intent (NLI) is a document used to indicate a student athlete's commitment to participating in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) colleges and universities in the United States. The NCAA Eligibility Center manag ...

to play

for the

University of Nebraska–Lincoln The University of Nebraska–Lincoln (Nebraska, NU, or UNL) is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Lincoln, Nebraska, United States. Chartered in 1869 by the Nebraska Legislature as part of the M ...

. She moved to the United States in 2019 to join the

Cornhuskers The Nebraska Cornhuskers (often abbreviated to Huskers) are the College athletics in the United States, intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Nebraska–Lincoln. The university is a member of the Big Ten Conference and ...

. As a freshman in 2019–20, Bourne played all 30 games for the Cornhuskers and averaged 5.9 points and 4.4 rebounds per game. She closed her first season with a season-high 16 points and a career-high five blocks against

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

in the

Big Ten Tournament Big Ten Tournament can refer to any Big Ten Conference sport that has a tournament or championship game: * Big Ten Football Championship Game * Big Ten men's basketball tournament * Big Ten women's basketball tournament * Big Ten baseball tournamen ...

on 5 March 2020. She added six rebounds, an assist and a steal in a season-high 29 minutes against the Wolverines. The

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

ended her season prematurely, as she expedited her return to Australia in March 2020 due to border closers. She completed online classes from Australia. As a sophomore in

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, Bourne played in 22 games with 21 starts, averaging 13.6 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game. In December 2020, she played against her sister Callie when Nebraska played

Idaho State Idaho State University (ISU) is a public research university in Pocatello, Idaho, United States. Founded in 1901 as the Academy of Idaho, Idaho State offers more than 250 programs at its main campus in Pocatello and locations in Meridian, Idaho ...

. She missed four games mid-season with an ankle injury. She scored a season-high-tying 22 points against

Purdue Purdue University is a public land-grant research university in West Lafayette, Indiana, United States, and the flagship campus of the Purdue University system. The university was founded in 1869 after Lafayette businessman John Purdue donat ...

on 23 December 2020. She had 21 points and a career-high 17 rebounds against Northwestern on 17 February and a season-high-tying 22 points to go with 11 rebounds against

Penn State #Redirect Pennsylvania State University The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State or PSU) is a Public university, public Commonwealth System of Higher Education, state-related Land-grant university, land-grant research university with ca ...

on 21 February. She was subsequently named

Big Ten Conference The Big Ten Conference (stylized B1G, formerly the Western Conference and the Big Nine Conference, among others) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Founded as the Intercollegiate Conference of Fa ...

Player of the Week for the first time and went on to earn honorable mention All-Big Ten accolades. As a junior in 2021–22, Bourne earned honorable mention All-Big Ten accolades for the second time after averaging 11.1 points and 4.5 rebounds in 24 minutes per game as a starter. She scored in double figures 20 times, including a career-high 23 points against

Alabama A&M Alabama Agricultural and Mechanical University (Alabama A&M or AAMU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Normal, Huntsville, Alabama. Founded in 1875, it took its present name in 1969. It was one of about 180 " normal s ...

on 14 November 2021. Her best friend, Jaz Shelley, joined Nebraska in 2021–22. As a senior in

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

, Bourne earned honorable mention All-Big Ten accolades for the third time after averaging 12.6 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. She scored double digits in 21 of 30 games, including three 20-point games. She also produced six double-digit rebound contests, including five double-doubles. She had a season-high 21 points in the season opener and matched that with another 21-point game in February 2023. Bourne chose to forego a potential fifth season of eligibility to return to Australia to start her professional career. She finished her four-year career with 115 games and 82 starts. She finished No. 21 on Nebraska's all-time scoring list 1,221 points and No. 15 on the Husker career rebounding chart with 648 boards. She became one of only 14 players in school history to reach the combined career milestones of 1,200 points and 600 rebounds. She served as the team's co-captain as a sophomore, junior and senior.

Professional career

In May 2023, Bourne joined the Canberra Nationals of the

NBL1 East NBL1 East, formerly the Waratah League, is a semi-professional basketball league in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, comprising both a men's and women's competition. In 2021, Basketball New South Wales partnered with the Nat ...

for the rest of the 2023 season. She was named to the NBL1 East All-Star Five. In 10 games, she averaged 19.1 points, 7.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.0 blocks per game. On 22 June 2023, Bourne signed a two-year deal with the

of the WNBL. In 21 games during the 2023–24 season, she averaged 13.4 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Bourne joined the Keilor Thunder of the

for the 2024 season to play under new coach,

Kristi Harrower Kristi Harrower (born 4 March 1975) is an Australian professional basketball coach and former player. She was a decorated player with the Australian Opals, winning three silver medals and one bronze medal at four Summer Olympics. She played in ...

. She helped the Thunder reach the NBL1 South Grand Final, where they lost 87–82 despite 24 points, eight rebounds and five assists from Bourne. She was named the NBL1 South Most Valuable Player and earned NBL1 South All-Star Five honours. In 25 games, she averaged 20.0 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.5 steals per game. Bourne re-joined the Adelaide Lightning for the

2024–25 WNBL season The 2024–25 WNBL season was the 45th season of the competition since its establishment in 1981. The Southside Flyers were the defending champions, but they failed to qualify for Finals this season. The Bendigo Spirit won their third champions ...

. She was considered one of the Lightning's standouts throughout preseason. In 21 games, she averaged 13.0 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game. Bourne re-joined the Keilor Thunder for the 2025 NBL1 South season. On 26 June 2025, Bourne signed a two-year deal with the

National team career

Bourne led the Australia under-17 team to gold at the 2017 Oceania Championship in Guam by averaging 19 points, 9.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists to claim a spot on the all-tournament team. She was also the MVP of the 2017

FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup The FIBA 3x3 Asia Cup is the top basketball tournament in Asia for 3x3 basketball, 3x3 national teams and was first held in 2013 as the FIBA Asia 3x3 Championship in Doha, Qatar. In the championship there are 2 events, men's and women's. Each tea ...

in Mongolia with the Australia 3x3 team, leading her team to another gold medal. Bourne was also named to the Australian Gems squad for the 2018 FIBA Under-18 Asian Championships. In 2019, Bourne helped the Gems to a silver medal at the FIBA Under-19 Women's World Cup in Thailand. She averaged 8.4 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 23.1 minutes per game. In February 2025, Bourne was named in her first

Australian Opals The Australia women's national basketball team, nicknamed the Opals after the brightly coloured gemstone common to the country, represents Australia in international basketball. From 1994 onwards, the Opals have been consistently competitive ...

squad. The following month, she was named in the Australia 3x3 team for the FIBA 3x3 Champions Cup in Bangkok, Thailand. She helped the team win the 3x3 Champions Cup bronze medal. In May 2025, Bourne was named in the Opals squad for the 2025 FIBA Women's Asia Cup in China. She helped the Opals win gold.

Personal life

Bourne's father, Trent, played

Australian rules football Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...

, while her mother, Ann, was a basketball player. Her older sister, Callie, was a five-year contributor at

, and her oldest sister, Emma, also played for the Canberra Capitals Academy.

References

External links

Nebraska Cornhuskers bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Bourne, Isabelle 2000 births Living people Adelaide Lightning players Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian women's basketball players 21st-century Australian sportswomen Canberra Capitals players Forwards (basketball) Nebraska Cornhuskers women's basketball players People educated at Daramalan College Sportspeople from Canberra