Kirsty Brown may have a distinct American drawl but she’s Scottish through and through.
Her innate competitiveness is what’s driving her and her team, Caledonia Gladiators, as they go into their Superleague Basketball Playoff semi-final today but it’s her Scottish connections that ensure it means that bit more to her.
Gladiators have already made history this season by winning the women’s side’s first-ever silverware when they claimed the Trophy Finals title in January.
But Brown knows that she and her team are now only 80 minutes away from making this season more successful than they could ever have imagined.
With a second trophy now within touching distance, Brown knows what’s at stake.
An impressive 90-77 victory over Manchester in the Playoffs quarter-finals last weekend has given the Scottish side both confidence and momentum as the season comes to a climax and the 6’2” forward believes her side is peaking at just the right time.
“The game against Manchester was super competitive but we really doubled-down in the fourth quarter and were able to pull ahead so that win was huge for us,” the 25-year-old says.
“We have such a long, hard season and it can be hard to keep going when you get to this point so it's been so important for us to have these big wins under our belt in recent games. It feels like all the work we've put in is really coming to fruition at just the right time.
“Peaking at this point of the season is the dream and that's what it feels like we're doing.”
This afternoon, in the Playoffs semi-final, Gladiators will take on favourites for the title and Championship winners, Oakland Wolves.
With Oakland having the home tie, the English side are favourites to progress to the final but what could be a significant factor is Gladiators’ win over Oakland in the Trophy Finals earlier this year.
Knowing they’ve already defeated Oakland in a game of huge significance does, admits Brown, give the Scottish side a considerable boost but she’s also well aware that today’s match has the potential to be their toughest of the entire season.
“We've not beaten Oakland in the regular season but to have beaten them in the Trophy Finals is huge for us. They've not lost at home this season so hopefully beating them on their home court is a really exciting prospect,” she says.
“We've taken confidence from the Trophy Finals win but we're also not getting complacent about the fact that we won that because we know how hard a game this will be. We go into this game without any doubt in our minds but we know it's going to be a very, very tough game.
“We want to focus on what we do well and if we can manage that, we should be in a very good spot.”
Brown was born in Edinburgh before relocating to California at the age of 6. Her return to Scotland, when she signed for Gladiators in 2023, has been something of a personal triumph on the court but even more significantly, Brown has noticed a real shift in the recognition basketball, and significantly women's basketball, is receiving off the back of Gladiators success,
“The weather's just a bit different to California but other than that I'm loving being back in Scotland,” she says.
“It's so much fun being a part of this club and seeing how much we've grown this season compared to last season has been amazing.
“We're even starting to get recognised out in public which is massive for women's sport because often female athletes just don't get recognised.
“To see the growth of the club and the awareness of the sport has been amazing and it's very exciting to continue to pushing Gladiators forwards.”
