Starring NBL1 role gets Mia ready to be a Jewel

Featured image: @hyperfocusimages | Michael Bailey

Mia Jacobs returned to the NBL1 West with the Mandurah Magic following her standout college career and starred in 2026 ahead of now earning her first WNBL contract to be part of history at the Tasmania Jewels.

Jacobs and her older twin sisters Claire and Amy played all their junior basketball at the Lakeside Lightning including starting their NBL1 West careers there, but it's been a different journey for all three since college.

Amy and Claire spent four years together at La Salle before Amy returned home to Perth and spent two seasons in the NBL1 with the Willetton Tigers along with earning a first WNBL opportunity with the Perth Lynx.

Claire had an extra college season with Nevada before then also joining Amy at the Tigers in 2024 before having now played the past two seasons with Mandurah in between stints in England and New Zealand.

Mia also started her college journey at La Salle with her older sisters back for the 2022/23 season before transferring for the next two seasons with Fresno State, and then finishing off at the University of Oregon in 2025/26.

Following that, she returned to Perth and spent the 2026 NBL1 season playing alongside Claire with the Magic where she offered a glimpse into what she's capable of.

While an injury through the mid-part of the season meant she was limited to 11 appearances, when she was out there for Mandurah she was outstanding averaging 15.0 points, 9.9 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 2.2 steals showing her all-round abilities.

That captured the attention of inaugural Jewels coach Claudia Brassard and now she's going to be a key part of the history first ever Tasmanian team in the WNBL.

With Amy having already had a taste of the WNBL and now with Claire having already signed this season with the Southside Melbourne Flyers, Mia too always dreamed of getting to play professionally and what she did in the NBL1 was huge in making that happen.

The combination of her final season in college playing with the Oregon Ducks and then getting to play such a big role on a playoff-bound NBL1 West team has Mia feeling ready to now make the leap into the WNBL.

"A big thing for me was in college I transferred to Oregon so having to learn to play with the physicality in the Big Ten was really an important thing for me to help transfer into the pros," Jacobs said.

"I thought that at least physicality-wise that did a really good job to prepare me for this league now."

Jacobs was also part of history at the Townsville Tip-Off WNBL pre-season tournament where not only was she part of the first ever Jewels team to step onto the court, but she played a huge part in their eventual victory.

Tasmania had to come back from a 17-point deficit but outscored the Adelaide Lightning 44 points to 28 in the second half to end up winning 72-70 and Jacobs was huge in that.

She ended up with 28 points, six rebounds and three steals with 6/9 three-point shooting before she backed up with another seven points, nine rebounds, five assists and two steals with the second game against the Sydney Flames.

It was her first taste of playing in the WNBL and she enjoyed everything about the experience.

"I love playing basketball so it's great to be able to get out there and play against someone other than ourselves," Jacobs said.

"It was really fun and it's my first kind of WNBL game, even if not officially, and it was a good little run around and I thought the team did really well.

"It's good to get my nerves out of the way and obviously that first one was a big game, but it was great to get out there and have a little run around, and kind of get the season going."

Jacobs has shown that she can influence a game in so many ways throughout what she did this past NBL1 season with Mandurah as a prolific rebounder but also a gun scorer and knockdown three-point shooter.

That included her having a game with 22 rebounds for the Magic against the Perry Lakes Hawks along with scoring 24 points in their losing final against the Joondalup Wolves.

She made an immediate impact too with 22 points, 18 rebounds, eight assists and three steals in her debut with the Magic against local rivals the Rockingham Flames too.

So on the back of what she was able to do in the NBL1 West, she has joined the Jewels for her first WNBL opportunity feeling good about the game and with the knowledge her Tasmanian teammates have full confidence in her to keep shooting.

"I think everyone on this team is really supportive of me and the shots I take, and I'm the same way with them and the shots they take too so that gives everyone a lot of belief and confidence," Jacobs said.

"I think just going into each game with a mindset that it's going to be always different depend on the defenders and stuff like that is important.

"So it's about always being prepared to put your best foot forward and having the confidence to take the shots when you're open out there."

Now having got to spend some time together as a group at the Tip-Off in Townsville and now as the build-up continues to the Jewels' first ever WNBL game on Thursday October 15 against the Geelong Venom, and Jacobs couldn’t be happier with how the group is coming together.

"I think it's great that the team has definitely bonded so much already over the last few weeks," Jacobs said.

"We've only had about seven trainings together, but it's definitely a new group and we've got through the first step of that first game and then were able to take it from there.

"I think the team bonding and relationship building has been going on a good track so far.

"We'll have another scrimmage before the season starts but I think the focus is just keying in on our team and what we do best, and just going from there now to get ready for the start of the season."