TARA Wells describes her cousin Jamie-Lee Tito and herself as "feisty" players on the basketball court.
They'll need to be that and more if they want to make an impression on their upcoming tour in the United States.
Basketball in the US is a huge sport and it is the women's game
in particular that has been growing rapidly in recent years.
With 14 fully professional teams and college basketball immensely popular, there are plenty of opportunities for young Kiwis to break into the game there.
The Northland cousins left for New York on Monday as part of a nine-strong New Zealand team with the main event the 2008 Liberty Bell Tournament.
The team is coached by Whangarei's Mata Cameron.
Wells, the 16-year-old point guard, has been playing in the under-19 Auckland competition this year.
Tito plays in the under-15 Whangarei competition.
Both of the Whangarei Girls High School students realise the enormous task they have set themselves to make an impression in the States, but they are keen to give it a go.
"I want to take as many opportunities as basketball can give me and on this trip there will be college selectors and scouts - lots of scouts - that will be there watching us and hopefully liking what they see," Wells said. The aim would be to get a American college scholarship from the trip.
"It's my dream to play college ball in the future," Wells said.
For Tito the trip is more about experience. "For me I'm going for experience. I've still got a few years of school to go before I start thinking about college, but I want to see what it's like over there and try and get up to their level while I'm living over here, if I can. But it won't be easy," she said.
The tour is an annual privately-financed trip to the US and the students will base themselves at the Long Island College campus with warm-up games leading up to the two-day Liberty Bell tournament as well as sightseeing trips to New York and Niagra Falls.
Wells and Tito said that they had to thank the wider Whangarei Basketball community and in particular Fonterra staff for helping them to raise funds for the trip.
