Jacobs could be final piece to Tigers' championship puzzle

While the big three at the Willetton Tigers have understandably grabbed the attention in their run to a third straight NBL1 West Grand Final, the mid-season addition of Amy Jacobs could well be that final piece to a championship puzzle after four years in college.

Jacobs started her career with the Lakeside Lightning and was part of the team that won a championship back in 2018, and her family has a strong connection there including twin sister Claire and younger sibling Mia having pulled on the purple.

However, after Amy completed her four years at college alongside Claire and then having spent a year with Mia at La Salle, upon returning home to Perth she wanted a fresh start with her basketball and Willetton soon became an option impossible to turn down.

She has now settled in perfectly with the Tigers despite being thrown right in the deep end upon arriving, and she's proven the perfect added piece to a team with three genuine stars captain Desiree Kelley, two-time MVP Alex Sharp and gun import Melisa Brcaninovic.

It's far from a three person team at the Tigers and Jacobs is proving that with what she's providing with 9.1 points, 6.2 rebounds and 3.2 assists a game including a best of 20 points, 10 boards and seven assists back against the South West Slammers.

At 22 years of age, she looks every bit a player ready to take the next step in her career, but right now it's winning a championship with Willetton on Friday night against the Cockburn Cougars that is her sole focus.

How are you feeling preparing for Grand Final

With the build up to the Grand Final continuing and getting stronger the longer the week goes, Jacobs can't wait to now just get to Bendat Basketball Centre on Friday night and experience the sold out crowd with the championship at stake.

"I am really excited, I think that goes without saying. It's pretty rare to get to play in a Grand Final so I'm very excited about it and also very nervous too and I feel like Friday can't come fast enough," Jacobs said. 

"I know I have a huge support system coming to the game and I know a lot of other people have huge support systems coming too so it's just really exciting to get to play at such a high level in front of so many family and friends."

Whether it was at Lakeside or now with Willetton, Cockburn is a natural rival for Jacobs so as a result she can't wait to do battle with them especially in Friday night's Grand Final.

"I'm really excited to play against them," she said.

"I feel like both our teams have had really great seasons so to continue that on in the Grand Final for both teams is really exciting. I think it's going to be a really competitive game and they have some great players, but we do as well so I'm going to really enjoy it."

Road to the Grand Final for Tigers

Willetton might now be entering Friday night's Grand Final on a 13-game winning streak, but it's been quite the eventful and dramatic two finals matches they've played at Willetton Basketball Stadium to get there.

First up was quite the rollercoaster ride against the Joondalup Wolves where the Tigers had to come back from a six-point with five minutes to play before taking charge and winning by 10.

It was then even more dramatic this past Saturday night against the Rockingham Flames with Willetton down seven with just over two minutes to play.

However, once more they found a way to win including the game winner from Melisa Brcaninovic on an offensive rebound late in the piece, and Jacobs was as relieved as anyone to get that win to 
advance to the Grand Final.

"I feel like my heart was racing so fast there at the end in that game on Saturday night. We were worried obviously when we were down but in a sense we were calm and we knew we would figure out how to get the win," Jacobs said.

"There was just this giant relief when the final buzzer went off and we realised we did win. It was a giant relief after that stress. I think the way that we're playing right now is so amazing with the trust that we have in each other, and the coaches have the trust in us to just let us play a lot of the time. 

"I feel like it really would have hurt if we didn’t make the Grand Final especially having won so many games in the back end of the season. It would have hurt for sure to not get there so I'm glad we didn’t experience that feeling."

You might be the final piece of the puzzle

Jacobs was excited to be joining the Tigers but given she was becoming part of a team that had already played in the last two Grand Finals, and was already 6-2 when she arrived, she wasn’t quite sure how she would immediately fit in.

However, she had no reason to be worried and not only did she immediately fit in, she has proven the perfect complement to the big three of Kelley, Sharp and Brcaninovic with what she provides with her strong all-round game.

It's not just on court that Jacobs has fit in, though, and the way she has been embraced away from the court as well has made her in no doubt she made the right decision to join Willetton.

"I think I've settled in amazingly and everyone welcomed me with such open arms. I feel like there was absolutely no pressure for me when I was coming in, and I felt like everyone kind of knew me but didn’t at the same time," she said.

"So there wasn’t anything about me having to do certain things coming in, it was all about getting there and people realised I can actually shoot and do some different things. 

"I felt like I was able to just play the way that I usually play instead of having to come in with them expecting me to do this and this. Everyone just made me feel so welcomed and like they were grateful I was here, and then I could just go and do what I do on the court."

It was quite the whirlwind for Jacobs who finished college at La Salle in Philadelphia before turning to Perth on a Thursday before Willetton had a double-header back on May 20 and 21 against the Mandurah Magic and Goldfield Giants.

Her debut for the Tigers ended up being a loss to the Magic and that in fact remains the last match that Willetton has lost this season but it was a sure case of being thrown in the deep end as she hadn't even practiced with the team.

"I was so nervous at the start and I didn’t even get to practice that week of my first games," she said.

"I got back in Perth on the Thursday and we had a double-header, and I'd just met everyone and it was definitely stressful. I was very, very nervous but everyone made me feel so welcome from the moment they met me so that helped relax me a bit. That was really nice to experience."

What was it that attracted you to Willetton

When Jacobs was thinking about what to do after her four years in college, she wasn’t quite sure what her future holds. She still isn’t quite sure what she does want to do and instead is happy to just wait to see how everything unfolds while enjoying being home.

However, on a basketball sense while there was that pull there to return to Lakeside, she felt she might prefer a fresh start and it soon became obvious there'd be nowhere she'd enjoy more than a team who had played in the past two Grand Finals, Willetton.

"I was definitely thinking of going back to Lakeside but I felt like I wanted a fresh start at somewhere new," Jacobs said. 

"I'd heard a lot of great things about Simon as a coach and how he is very defence orientated and I really liked everything he was doing with his program. So I reached out to him and said I would love to be a part of your program and then he really wanted me too, which was a nice feeling."

How much fun is this team to play on

Jacobs has had teams she's enjoyed being part of previously including back at Lakeside before she went to college, then at La Salle and even in WABL, school championships and state teams.

However, she can honestly say she might never have enjoyed being part of a team more than this Willetton one and she has no doubt that plays a big part in the success they are having.

"It is so much fun to play on this team and it's got to be one of the funnest teams I've got to play on," Jacobs said. 

"That's on and off the court as well, it's just such a good environment to be around where everyone cares about winning and wants to play, but everyone also cares about how everyone is outside of basketball as well. 

"I feel like when you have a good on and off court relationship with everyone, it just translates into an even better relationship on the court."

Jacobs would have never wanted to join Willetton if she had any doubts that it would be anything but a positive experience, but at the same time with the stars on the team, she has even been surprised by just how well everyone gets along on and off the court.

"I was a bit shocked with just how well everyone gets alone when I first arrived because usually you do get a bit of tension with really high competing teams," she said.

"That's just natural and it's not always a bad thing or anything, it just happens but for us to have everyone on the same page is so rare. I was so nervous when I first arrived but then it turned out there was nothing at all to be nervous about."

Looking back on college experience

Jacobs played some good basketball coming through the ranks with the Lakeside Lightning and she was part of the squad that won the championship with Craig Mansfield the coach and Alison Schwagmeyer-Belger their superstar back in 2018.

That all led to her attending La Salle University along with twin sister over the past four years and she loved everything about the experience, especially the chance to live and breathe basketball for a lot of the time.

She has no doubt as a result she has returned home a much better and more complete player.

"I feel really good about my time there and I really enjoyed it. I feel like when you're put in an environment where you literally eat, live and breathe basketball, it helps you transform a huge amount over four years," Jacobs said. 

"I'm really grateful for the college experience I had and I think as a player, it really did benefit me so much to go over there and now coming back, I feel stronger, I can shoot a bit better and can read things a lot better now too. I really, really did love it."

Sharing it with sisters Mia and Claire

It might seem like a well thought out plan that the three Jacobs sisters all ended up attending La Salle University in Philadelphia together, but it actually was more by chance and a bit of luck than anything how it eventuated.

Amy along with twin sister Claire ended up settling on attending La Salle back starting in 2019 and spent the last four years there before graduating in 2023, and Amy is now back home while Claire has gone back for a fifth year at Nevada.

However, younger sister Mia was a bit of a different story and she was leaning towards going elsewhere to not be looked at as the little sister for her first college year starting in 2022, but her twin big sisters got their way.

Mia is now at Fresno State for this upcoming 2023/24 season, but Amy will forever be grateful for the time she got to spend at La Salle with her sisters.

"I think it was amazing getting to play with them and just having them there. It made it so much easier whenever you got homesick to have those siblings there, and it was probably one of the coolest experiences to get to see you played at college with your siblings," she said. 

"It was so amazing to me but it was definitely not planned. Me and Claire were looking at a lot of schools together, and then Le Salle taking both of us and then from there, we wanted to try to get Mia to come too when she was old enough. 

"Mia really didn’t want to come, though, for the longest time to play with us and I do understand how we would have been seniors and her a freshman with that big sister, little sister thing. But I'm so glad that she chose to want to play with us for a year, and it was just really, really cool. I loved it and it was amazing."

Setting goals for the future

While Jacobs before she went to college looked to be a talented young player with enormous potential, now that she has returned home four years later, the version of her as a basketballer at Willetton looks every bit someone who is ready to reach their potential.

She can still move and handle the ball like a guard, but at 6'0 can battle inside and has proven herself a terrific playmaker, scorer and shooter along with rebounder and defender.

That's everything that suggests she should be on the radar of WNBL clubs and she would love that opportunity, but right now she's just waiting to see what her future holds and is enjoying being back home for the first extended period in four years.

"I feel like I would really love to make that next step and I'm sure it would be a really fun experience for me, but I haven’t really thought too much into it yet," Jacobs said. 

"I think I'm just trying to settle back in being home after being away for so long, but I think making that next jump would be the next goal for sure and it would be really exciting to be able to make a team."