Mum (and dad) is the word for Bendigo's Kelsey Rees

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Australian forward Kelsey Rees is returning home after five years in the US college system and is ready to showcase the tireless work she has put into her game.

Rees, 23, will make her WNBL debut with the Bendigo Spirit in WNBL26 against the Townsville Fire on Sunday, October 19, 2025

The South Australian 196cm (6'5) forward is the daughter of former WNBL player Nicole Guy-Rees’ and four-time NBL champion and 1994 NBL Grand Final MVP Paul Rees.

“I've been so lucky growing up with parents who both played professionally in the leagues,” Rees told basketball.com.au.

“Just hearing all the stories about my mum’s time in the league and seeing how much it has changed, but how the competitiveness has remained.

"I'm so excited to be able to play in the league that she played in, follow in her footsteps and try to make her proud.”

From playing in the backyard with her siblings and parents, to now being a professional basketball player herself, Rees is grateful to have had her parents support.

“Being able to call them after a game in college and having them know what it's about, know what you might be facing and also be able to tell it to you straight was important,” she said.

“Obviously, you want to be listening to your coaches first, but they're both really good at not only encouraging me and pushing me forward, but also being realistic about, ‘hey, maybe that is something you’ve got to get in the gym and work on’, because if you want to continue to get better, if you want to play for a long time, it's going to be hard.

"It's not always going to be the easy road, and you have to prove it to yourself more than prove it to anyone else.”

The pedigree has always been there, but don’t for a second think that alone has propelled Rees to where she is today. Every player wants to believe they’re obsessed with improving, but Rees is the epitome of that mindset.

With each passing college season, Rees added new tools to her arsenal and in her final year with Oregon State, she was the ultimate connector on both ends of the court for the Beavers, averaging career-highs across the board with 12.9 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.

After three years at the University of Utah, Rees transferred to Oregon State for the 2023-24 season, believing their program would help her become the best player she could be.

“I had a great time at Utah, but there were definitely some parts of my game that I knew weren’t really a big thing in their system, that wasn’t how they played, so to speak,” she said.

“I knew for me, if I was going to make it to the next level — the dream is always to play in an Australian jersey at the Olympics — so if I was going to even start to make it towards those goals, get a WNBL contract, I needed a place where I could work on those things and where I could put them into practice too.”

"Being able to work every day with those coaches, work on those moves I needed to and be given the confidence to shoot my shots and do different things that I hadn't been doing before was huge.

“The coaches there, especially [head coach] Scott [Rueck], was great at encouraging that and ensuring that even during practice I was doing the things that I needed to be doing to get better and that would work in a game.

"It was huge just to have the confidence of those coaches which allowed me to work on the skills that I need and be able to learn those different tricks about going to the post, which I'll definitely need in the next chapter in the WNBL.”

As Rees’ confidence grew, she became an undeniable presence. Whether she was throwing herself at rebounds, going to work in the paint or taking shots from the outside (she shots 52.2% from deep in her final six games of the season), Rees blossomed into a player with a myriad of skills.

All that work came to fore in the 2025 West Coast Conference (WCC) Tournament. Knowing they’d have to win the tournament to book their ticket to the NCAA Tournament, Rees rose to the occasion, shot the lights out, and who could forget that game-winning buzzer beater against San Francisco in the quarterfinal?

With scores level and the shot clock turned off, Rees found herself with the ball on the perimeter with just three seconds remaining after an initial fumble, she didn’t panic, instead she composed herself and managed to get a shot off after a drive through her defender, and the ball bounced in as the buzzer sounded.

Chaotic celebrations ensued.

“For me, I hadn't played as well as I would have liked in the rest of the game, but luckily my teammates had stepped up, and then to have that shot at the buzzer go down was such a great feeling,” she said.

“I'd been trusted a couple of times throughout the season to have that shot, and it was nice for that one to go down in the moment.”

The Beavers’ run to the WCC Championship was magical, and it all started with that Rees buzzer-beater. They would again win with a buzzer-beater in a semi-final win over Gonzaga, then they put the foot down against Portland in the final to be crowned Champions.

Rees was awarded All-WCC Tournament Team honours and clinched a trip to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth year in a row, something most college athletes could only dream of.

“It's a crazy feeling because I watched my sister [Darcy, Washington University 2018-2023] in college and she played on some really good teams, but they never made it to the NCAA Tournament,” she said.

“There are so many people that go over and don't get that chance. It's just such a cool feeling, and it's something that you grow up hearing about. Even if you never knew too much about college basketball, you hear about March Madness.”

Now back in Australia, the 6’5 forward is ready to bring all the knowledge and experience she gained in college to the Spirit, who are looking to defend their WNBL title.

While the loss of WNBL MVP and Finals MVP Sami Whitcomb leaves a major dent, Bendigo has pivoted well and are putting together a squad that will be a tough cover, highlighted by the signing of rising star 2024 Olympic bronze medallist and fellow South Australian Izzy Borlase.

“Seeing Izzy sign, it definitely cemented to me how good the program was,” she said.

“She's been around the league these past few years, obviously a lot more than I have. We know her family a little bit, she played with my little sister growing up, so to see her sign, it really made the choice a little easier for me to know that she saw them as a great program, and I felt safe in my decision.

“Then to be playing with a player like Kelsey Griffin, I met KG when she was playing at the Caps while I was at the AIS, so I know how great of a person she is.

"Then to have watched her compete, how hard she plays and just what a great player she is, I'm so excited to be around that. Having someone like that on a team, you can't slack off at any point in practice, because she's just there bringing the energy.

"I wanted to have players like her in the group that would help me compete and continue to improve.”

The opportunity to play for coach Kennedy Kereama was a driving reason as to why Rees signed with Bendigo, knowing he has helped take players’ careers to the next level.

“He was a huge reason as to why I picked Bendigo,” she said.

“Chatting to him, he’s very easy to talk to and he'd done his research on me, which was important. I wanted a program that knew who I was, knew what I needed to get better in, but also knew what my strengths were.”

It’s fair to say that while Kereama knows Rees’ game well, the rest of Australia is going to be re-introduced to what she’s capable of after years away making a name for herself on the other side of the globe.

Bendigo fans should get ready for a relentless worker, who combines that fire with a polished inside-outside game that continues to get more and more deadly.

2024-25 Season Highs

• Rebounds: 17 – 11 August 2024 at Colorado St.
• Points: 25 – 30 December 2024 at Portland
• Field Goals Made: 10 – 30 December 2024 at Portland
• Steals: 2 – 30 December 2024 at Portland
• Minutes: 42 – 16 January 2025 at Santa Clara
• 3-Point Field Goals Attempts: 7 – 16 January 2025 at Santa Clara
• Free Throws Made: 10 – 18 January 2025 vs Portland
• Free Throws Attempts: 10 – 18 January 2025 vs Portland
• Field Goals Attempts: 17 – 8 February 2025 at San Diego
• Assists: 4 – 22 February 2025 vs San Diego
• 3-Point Field Goals Made: 5 – 1 March 2025 at Pepperdine
• Blocks: 3 – 9 March 2025 vs San Francisco