Isobel Borlase's meteoric rise from bench player to WNBA star

Three years ago, Isobel Borlase was an exciting teenager coming off the bench. Today, she's the WNBL MVP, an Olympian and a WNBA player.

In 2023, she was named the Betty Watson Breakout Player of the Year and Sixth Woman of the Year in the same season off the bench for the Adelaide Lightning. In three years since, she’s claimed an Olympic medal, made two All-WNBL teams, made her WNBA debut and won the WNBL26 MVP.

Having gone through the Centre of Excellence program just a few years ago, even Borlase couldn't have predicted what would come next.

“Based on the trajectory of how my early career has happened, absolutely not,” she said.

“With the CoE, I was still figuring it out, but I just thought that signing with the (Adelaide) Lightning was the coolest thing ever. ‘I'm gonna be playing with Steph Talbot!’.

“Little seventeen-year-old Izzy would have thought, 'My God’, I’m getting like lunch with Steph would have never happened. So that's pretty cool that we're now friends.”

Borlase's NMVP campaign also placed her alongside some of Australia's greatest players, joining Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor and Liz Cambage as WNBL players to win the Suzy Batkovic medal under the age of 22.

At the Opals series against China in Melbourne, Jackson and Taylor told WNBL Media just how proud they are of the emerging Borlase.

“Izzy had the season of her life and hopefully she continues to get better and better ... it was awesome to watch,” Jackson said.

“I was really impressed by her maturity,” Taylor added.

“She had a real focus on what she wanted to accomplish this year, making a change away from her home team and focusing on her exterior development.”

Borlase's move to Bendigo has paid off, giving her the confidence to live away from home and play among the world’s best.

Playing alongside superstar Angel Reese and going against the likes of Aja Wilson, Caitlin Clark and Breanna Stewart, the young star is flourishing.

“[I catch myself every time] looking at Caitlin Clark and Aja Wilson,” she joked.

“Probably the biggest difference has been just the speed of the game. When I was at training camp, I was like, Whoa, like I feel like I'm a beat behind.”

The pathway from the WNBL and WNBA has been proven over and over again, and for Borlase, she is seeing how it benefits her first-hand playing alongside former imports Naz Hillmon and Jordin Canada in Atlanta.

“I'm getting to play with them here in the WNBA and the level at that which they play at, I'm just on the sidelines in awe of like what they're doing,” she said.

“I'm playing against the best players in the world almost every day. Being in this environment where I'm learning and getting better, in my opinion, when you're uncomfortable and challenged …  my role is different, I'm uncomfortable here, and that's where you get better.”