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Rising Kinross basketball star Ella Doherty is set to take her talent to America this year.
The former Perth Phoenix player, whose main position is guard, has scored a scholarship at the University of Toledo in Ohio.
Kinross High student Ella (17) currently plays with WBBL Championship side Caledonia Pride.
“I’m heading to the States,” Ella revealed to the PA. “I got a scholarship and that should push me further in my basketball journey.
“It’s a Division One school and hopefully it will improve my basketball.
“Basketball there is so big and the facilities will be really helpful. They always look out for a player’s best interests.
“Going to the States, it widens your opportunities. You can stay out there but I’m not sure what I’ll be doing yet.”
For now the focus has been on performing at peak level with Caledonia Pride, who compete against the best teams in the UK.
League action resumed in January and Ella played a starring role in a recent victory down the road against Durham Palatinates.
In fact, one of her scores in the 78-60 win - a clever finish after sizing up a one-on-one opportunity - was voted play of the week.
“I saw the opportunity and like going one-v-one with the basket,” Ella said.
“We kept the intensity high. They had fewer players so we kept running and executed everything we talked about in training.
“We made the improvements we wanted from the game before and it worked out well.”
Ella actually missed the first game of the season against Leicester Riders with concussion but has loved getting back to competitive action.
Like sport across the country, last year’s training and games were disrupted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“We’re really lucky to actually be able to train at the moment,” Ella said. “We’ve been thinking of that while training and being appreciative.
“There were no games so it was a lot of working on new things to be ready for when they did come.
“We were also doing some workouts online as a team but it wasn’t quite the same. We were maybe off the court for four months.
“Now that we’re playing, we’re really excited because it’s been a long wait.
“It was so exciting to get back and, now that we’re playing, the atmosphere in training is great.
“We’ve already made such big improvements from last season with the intensity in training and how we’re gelling as a team.
“Hopefully we can cause an upset in the league. We’re one of the youngest teams but we can definitely show how competitive we are.
“Teams have a lot more experience but we have the heart, drive and are up for the challenge.”
Playing at this elite level has always been on the cards for Ella. She impressed for a number of years at Phoenix to earn Scotland and Great Britain honours while progressing through the ranks.
The commitment to this point has been great and turning out for Pride means travelling down south on a regular basis, but Ella is fine with that. Next up is an away trip to Nottingham Wildcats on Sunday.
Ella said: “We’re used to travelling a lot and you have to do it.
“We just love playing basketball.”