Hannah Robb is battling to ensure she doesn’t get ahead of herself but she’s well aware that if she and her Caledonia Gladiators teammates can win their next three games of basketball, it will cement this season into the history books.
Today, Robb and her teammates embark on the Superleague Basketball Playoffs, with the Scottish side taking on Manchester in the quarter-finals.
A successful 120 minutes over the coming weeks would see them lift the Playoffs trophy and as desperate as Robb is for that to be achieved, she’s adamant her side are looking, for now anyway, no further than this afternoon.
“If we could win the next three games, it would just be absolutely incredible so it's really exciting to have this opportunity,” the 27-year-old from Arbroath says.
“Ultimately our goal is to win the playoffs, but we have to take it one game at a time and our focus this week is only on beating Manchester.
“We're really trying to solely focus on ourselves and not get too caught up on the what-ifs.”
The Scots are one apiece with Manchester in the Championship this season and given the two sides finished level on points, Robb is in little doubt as to quite how little separates the teams. She expects this afternoon’s game to be on a knife-edge but with Gladiators enjoying home advantage courtesy of their fourth-place league finish, Robb is hopeful this will give them the edge they’ll need to progress to the semi-finals.
“The Trophy Finals win was huge for us as a team and as a club, and we've taken a lot of confidence from that win. Having won that trophy in January, it's made us want another one even more and knowing that we've been in these high-pressure situations before gives us confidence,” she says.
“And against Manchester, it’ll be a close contest so having the home tie is huge for us.”
Robb, who returned to Gladiators in the summer of 2023 after a stint at Leicester Riders, has an extra layer of appreciation for the situation she’s in having spent the past three months on the sidelines due to a concussion she suffered just days after Gladiators’ Trophy Finals win in January.
Her time out of the competitive arena has only served to strengthen her appreciation for the opportunity that's presenting itself in the Playoffs and so her drive to finish this season on a high is fuelled by both personal ambition and the realisation of what yet more success can do for Scottish basketball and women’s sport as a whole in Scotland.
“It feels so good to be back playing because it was hard being on the sidelines for that long,” the guard says.
“When something has been taken away from you, you really appreciate getting it back and you realise how much you want it.
“And to make it back for the Playoffs is great - I’ve grown up playing in the Scottish system so to be a part of a club having this kind of success really is special.
"This is just the beginning for the club which is so exciting because the younger girls are able see the opportunities that are here and that's invaluable.
“As a team, we’re really proud to be role models and do what we can to push the sport forward.”
