The Ballarat Rush are hoping their two american imports will help facilitate wins ahead of the inaugural game of the NBL1 women's competition.
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Chanise Howard and Olivia Hackman have been in Australia for just under a month and both have loved reception provided by the people of Ballarat.
The people here are really nice and are always willing to help us out with literally anything we need," Hackman said.
"That makes the transition so much easier when you have a community that rallies behind you in any way that they can."
This will be Hackman's first stink playing basketball outside of the United States following her career at Southeast Missouri State University while Jenkins has played the last two years in Switzerland.
The two imports are joining a Rush team that struggled in 2018, managing only five wins out of their 20 games. They are both remaining confident and have their sights set on a post-season run.
"Our goal is to first and foremost make the playoffs and from there to win a championship," Jenkins said.
"From what I've seen in our scrimmages I think we can go far."
Hackman and Jenkins got a feeling for the standard of the Australian competition in a pre-season loss to the Geelong Supercats.
"The competition is good, we obviously have a lot to learn - this season will be about working hard and playing together," Hackman said
Jenkins echoed her teammates sentiments.
"The competition is tough, they're not going to make it easy. (The Supercats) did a really good job of coming out and hitting us with a one-two punch but we showed our resiliency and fought back."
The Rush will play their first game of the NBL1 season this Saturday at 5.30pm on the road against the Nunawading Specters.
The Miners will follow the Rush, also playing in Nunawading at 7.30pm.