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Former Nebraska All-Big Ten players Jaz Shelley and Issie Bourne are expected to be back together in Australia's WNBL for the 2026-27 season.
Shelley, who was a finalist for WNBL Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors for the Geelong Wodonga Giants in 2025-26, signed with the Sydney Flames earlier this week. She averaged 13 points, four rebounds, four assists and a league-leading 2.5 steals per game, in her second season full-time in the league after capping her Nebraska career in 2023-24.
Shelley was also a team captain for the Geelong Venom in the NBL1 South, leading the team to the Grand Final while winning league MVP honors.
On Friday, May 8, Bourne announced that she was making the move from the Southside Melbourne Flyers to join Shelley in Sydney, pending league approval.
Bourne, who was part of the Australian National Team that claimed gold at the 2025 Asia Cup, averaged 16 points and 5.4 rebounds per game for Southside Melbourne last season. It was her first season with the Flyers after spending her first two WNBL seasons with the Adelaide Lightning.
A three-time honorable-mention All-Big Ten selection and three-time team co-captain as a forward for the Huskers (2020-23), Bourne produced 1,221 points and 648 rebounds in her four-year Nebraska career. A native of Canberra, Australia, Bourne led a series of signees for Nebraska Head Coach Amy Williams from down under that included Shelley, current WNBL player Ruby Porter (Adelaide Lightning) and Jessica Petrie.
Shelley, who is from Moe, Australia, joined Bourne at Nebraska beginning in the 2021-22 season after starting her U.S. collegiate career at Oregon. A third-round pick of the Phoenix Mercury in the 2024 WNBA Draft, Shelley earned first-team All-Big Ten honors at Nebraska in 2023, while adding second-team all-conference accolades in 2022 and 2024.
A two-time Nebraska MVP (2023, 2024), Shelley earned a spot on the Big Ten All-Tournament Team after leading the Big Red to the Big Ten Championship Game against Caitlin Clark and two-time NCAA runner-up Iowa. Weeks earlier, Shelley led the Huskers to an upset of Clark and the Hawkeyes in front of a Nebraska school-record crowd of more than 15,000 at Pinnacle Bank Arena.
A member of the Big Ten All-Defensive Team in 2022, Shelley joined Bourne in leading the Big Red to the 2022 NCAA Tournament. Shelley's 2024 Huskers advanced to the second round of March Madness with a win over Texas A&M in Corvallis, Ore.
Shelley closed her three-year Nebraska career with 1,364 points, 512 rebounds, 565 assists, 170 steals and 62 blocked shots, while knocking down 250 three-pointers.
Nebraska's women's basketball tradition in Australia runs deep, beginning with one of the best players in both Husker and WNBL history, Kelsey Griffin. The 2010 Nebraska All-American became the first naturalized player in history to play 250 WNBL games when she reached the milestone as a member of the Bendigo Spirit in 2025-26.
Griffin, who is a five-time WNBL champion and a three-time WNBL Grand Final MVP, completed her 14th WNBL season in 2025-26. She was a finalist for league MVP and Defensive Player-of-the-Year honors while earning second-team All-WNBL honors in 2026.
The six-time All-WNBL selection has spent 10 seasons with the Bendigo Spirit around a four-year stay with the Canberra Capitals. Griffin was the 2019 WNBL Most Valuable Player with the Canberra Capitals and the 2015 WNBL Defensive Player of the Year with the Bendigo Spirit.
She also represented Australia at the 2017 FIBA Asia Cup, where she was named the tournament's MVP.
Other former Huskers who have enjoyed success in the WNBL include Canadian National Team Captain and WNBL champion Chelsea Aubry, along with Husker WNBA Draft picks Cory Montgomery, Lindsey Moore and Jordan Hooper.