A trio of Canberra Capitals stars have set their sights on a WNBL championship on home court after booking their ticket to Tokyo.
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Australia's Marianna Tolo, France's Olivia Epoupa and Canada's Kia Nurse have all helped their countries to qualify for this year's Olympic Games.
The Opals, boasting Capitals mentor Paul Goriss on the coaching staff, secured their place with wins over Puerto Rico and Brazil at the FIBA pre-Olympic qualifying tournament in France.
Epoupa returns to Canberra with bragging rights after France toppled Australia amid a clean sweep to qualify for the Games.
Nurse is on her way back to the ACT after Canada swept their pool at a qualifying event in Belgium.
Now their focus shifts to game one of their WNBL semi-final series against the Melbourne Boomers at the AIS Arena on Sunday.
The best-of-three series opener comes days after the trio of starters and head coach return from a hectic overseas trip, with their flight out of Paris on Monday [AEDT] delayed by a few hours.
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They will have just about as much time to prepare for the semi-finals as they did for their respective Olympic qualifying campaigns, which were wedged between the WNBL regular season and playoffs.
"We've done what we needed to do and I'm excited to have a bit more preparation time now," Opals coach Sandy Brondello said.
"For us to get better we need to play games ... these games have been fantastic [to learn from] but we've got a long way to go to be at our potential."
The Opals are on the hunt for redemption having been beaten by Serbia in the Rio quarter-finals in 2016 to break a run of five consecutive Olympic medals.
It will be Brondello's first Olympic campaign as coach, with captain Jenna O'Hea (hand) and Nicole Seekamp (ankle) both set to return to the line-up in Tokyo following injury.
Gemma Potter claimed the Bob Staunton medal as the tournament's most valuable player, linking up with emerging Capital Lily Scanlon to steer Victoria to the national crown.
Victoria have now claimed four titles in a row following their 69-56 triumph over Queensland at the AIS.
WNBL SEMI-FINALS
Semi-final series two (all times in AEDT)
Sunday, February 16: Game one - Canberra Capitals v Melbourne Boomers at AIS Arena, 5.30pm.
Sunday, February 23: Game two - Melbourne Boomers v Canberra Capitals at State Basketball Centre, 6pm.
Game three date to be confirmed if necessary.
Caden Helmers
Caden Helmers is a sports journalist for The Canberra Times.
Caden Helmers is a sports journalist for The Canberra Times.
