Chyra Evans would love to stick around for NBL1 East play-offs with the Newcastle Falcons later this month.
But the 18-year-old is also excited to begin the next chapter of her basketball career when she flies to the United States on Friday morning.
The Falcons power forward has secured a four-year scholarship with NCAA powerhouse University of Michigan, a move she hopes will elevate her game to the next level and one day Australia's senior women's team.
"I'm a little bit nervous but also excited to get over there and work hard," Evans told the Newcastle Herald this week.
"The goal going there is to become a better basketball player and a better person. The ultimate dream is representing your country at a higher level and WNBA, but any opportunity I can get from being there is a good opportunity."
Evans spent the past two years based in Canberra honing her skills among the nation's best young talent at the Basketball Australia Centre of Excellence (CoE) in Canberra under coaches Kristen Veal and Sarah Graham.
"Kirsten Veal and Sarah Graham do such a great job at not only making you a better player but just making you a better person overall with all of the off-court stuff, becoming professional and that professional mindset," Evans said.
"If I hadn't gone to Canberra, I don't think I would be where I am today."
Evans was part of the Australian Gems side which collected a silver medal at the under-19 Women's World Championships in Hungary last year and spent the WNBL season with the Sydney Flames before returning to Newcastle and dominating for the Falcons in the NBL1 East competition.
"I played eight or nine games [with the Flames] and that was a good experience for me," she said.
"Coming out of the CoE into an all-women's league where they're a lot smarter than you, faster and just more athletic, was a bit of an eye-opener.
"I thought I improved a lot just with that experience, being able to play and train against women every single day."
Before her final hit-out with the Falcons last weekend, against the CoE, Evans had averaged 21.1 points and 10.6 rebounds a game this season to be ranked sixth in the East Conference in both categories.
"American basketball is completely different so it will probably take me a while to adapt to that change of play, but I'm feeling good and looking forward to it," Evans, who will study psychology while in the US, said.
"While I'm there I want to focus on my overall game, just taking it to a different level, a more professional level is what I'm aiming at."
Meanwhile, sitting fourth on the NBL1 ladder with a 13-5 record, the Falcons women play third-placed Norths (14-5) and second-placed Sutherland (14-4) in their last two games of the regular season this weekend to determine where they will finish heading into the play-offs.
