'I didn't have any hope': Woods climbs the mountain to make Opals debut

• Courtney Woods will make her Australian Opals debut in the Trans-Tasman series against NZ
• She averaged career numbers in 16 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game and led Townsville to the championship series
• Woods was also named in the All-WNBL First Team

"I wouldn't say I lost hope (of playing for the Opals), I just didn't have any hope."

Courtney Woods thought her childhood dream of wearing the green and gold would never come to fruition. After five seasons in the WNBL with the Townsville Fire, where she improved each and every year, the Brisbane product thought an Opals debut was out of reach having missed out on previous national squads.

And she was content with that.

"Honestly, I'm lucky because I get so much fulfilment for playing for the Townsville Fire that anything else feels like an added bonus to me," Woods told basketball.com.au.

But a dominant sixth season in the WNBL, where she led the Fire to the championship series and averaged career numbers of 16 points, 5.8 rebounds and 5.4 assists per game, gave the Opals coaching staff and selectors no choice but to finally reward the 28-year-old with a national team debut in the Trans-Tasman series against the New Zealand Tall Ferns starting tonight in Adelaide.

"I think probably until the moment it happened, I was at the point where I had kind of accepted that maybe this won't happen for you and I honestly think when I came to peace with that, is when things started to change for me," Woods said.

"I think when I stopped focusing on external things, and the same thing with finally getting minutes in the WNBL, I think when you stop worrying about this that and the other, you let go of all that performance anxiety and start to play a bit better basketball.

"I went and spoke at the under-18 nationals to the Queensland team and I said to all the kids, I wasn't a (national performance program) athlete and I played at a mid-major university. It definitely wasn't on the cards for me to end up in this position, so that's maybe part of the whole experience but I didn't really think this would happen until it finally did.

"The Opals represent the pinnacle of women's basketball, not only for being an adult but I think from the time you're a little kid, the top of the mountain is playing for the Opals. To be in that position now, even just kind of taking a moment and looking back and seeing how far I've come in the last couple of years as well as my whole career has kind of led to being here now.

"It's pretty awesome and obviously it's a huge honour any time you can play for Australia, so I'm really excited to do that."

Arriving for her rookie WNBL season in 2020, Woods says she was "average" at a lot of things offensively and defensively but credited her Fire coach and Opals assistant coach, Shannon Seebohm, for her development to make representing Australia possible.

"I kind of owe all of my development to Shannon... He's honestly just invested five years into making me into what I can do now and I think for me, not even just the scoring aspect and all of the ball screen reads, but I think the last year especially I became a better passer and I think that's what makes you a bit more of a complete player," she said.

"I think a lot of players can score and I always had a knack for scoring my whole life, then in the last couple of years he's really helped me with making reads and making passes out of pick and rolls especially and I think that's the biggest thing I've improved in the last couple of years."

Looking back on her journey to being alongside her when she runs out for the Opals for the first time, Seebohm said he couldn't be prouder of the player Woods has become.

"I've seen for the last five years how hard she's worked and I know this has been a goal that she's had for a while and I think for a little bit there, and I don't know if she minds me saying this or not, but I think she was probably a little bit unsure if it would happen, she was maybe even a little embarrassed probably to admit that's something she wanted," he said.

"I think we always saw something special in her and knew that if she continued to work that she'd have a chance to do something like this.

"It's super exciting and something, that I know not just me, but everyone at our club is definitely proud of her.

"You get a bit of a kick out of it every day, when you go down for breakfast (in Opals camp), we've got Courtney here and Alex Fowler and Abby Ellis here, just seeing them in the morning and seeing them in this environment and obviously having coached them all, it's just an awesome achievement for them."

Despite a limited lead up with only two training sessions together, Woods said she expected the Opals to still be sharp in the three-game series starting tonight before heading to the Sunshine Coast on Friday and New Zealand after that.

"I think anytime you get a playing group that's this talented and a coaching staff that's this experienced, even if it's a short lead-up, you can still expect to go out there and perform but I feel like everyone's just really excited," she said.

"They were saying in our lead up that its really rare to be playing on Australian soil, so the experienced players are really excited for that and then we have four players debuting so we're just excited to be able to wear the uniform."

The Opals tip-off at 6pm with the Boomers at 8pm tonight.