The NBL1 season may be coming to an end for the Ballarat Rush, but for Chanise Jenkins the journey might just be getting started.
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The American import expressed a desire to stay in Australia beyond the NBL1 season and ideally, earn a place on a WNBL roster.
More importantly, Jenkins revealed to The Courier this week she hoped to re-up with the Rush for the 2020 NBL1 season.
Watch Jenkins say she would be open to returning to Ballarat for the 2020 NBL1 season
This is good news for Ballarat fans.
The 26-year-old has been on a tear lately. She has top-scored for the Rush in its past two outings, and posted perhaps the best individual stat-line of any player this season in Saturday's match against Waverley.
But it isn't just good form Jenkins is enjoying. She also loves the city itself which has become a home away from home for the Chicago native.
"Ever since I got here, it's just been an amazing feeling," she said.
"Ballarat being a smaller town compared to the city of Chicago where I'm from, and just having that close-knit community here and all the support has been great.
"I'm used to big buildings, lights and just the fast life, but coming here where it's more chilled and laid back, and embracing everything around me has been a great feeling."
Nobody is more surprised by the feeling than Jenkins, who admitted she was more than a little weary of Australia and its reputation for - as she put it - huge bugs.
She said the level of competition also came as surprise, given the amount of talent currently getting around the NBL1 league.
"I didn't expect to see so many good teams and good players in this competition," she said.
"Being able to see Lauren Jackson on the sidelines and play against her team is pretty cool. She's and icon, and I was excited to be able to shake her hand after the game."
Jenkins said there had been some interest from WNBL clubs, but she hadn't had a lot of looks just yet.
She felt given the opportunity, she could be a good player in the WNBL competition.
"Ballarat doesn't have a WNBL team, but being able to stay and explore the country a little bit and play against other great players would be pretty cool," she said.
"I do things that most point guards don't do. I score the ball, I facilitate, I rebound and I play defense.
"You don't find a lot of guards that do all of those things and I value all of those things. In my mind that stat sheet needs to be filled entirely for my team to win."
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