NICI Gilday has been made feel so welcome by the Mandurah Magic that it's made it easy to make an eye-catching start to her SBL career as she looks to try and win that championship that eluded her in college.

Gilday had a remarkable college career at Santa Clara University ending up among the best in virtually all categories in the school's history.

She then had a brief experience in Romania where the lifestyle was a little too different and difficult to adjust to. That's why when there was the chance to come to Australia, Perth and ultimately Mandurah and the Magic, she jumped at the opportunity.

The results on the court have been obvious with the combo guard teaming in the back court with Casey Mihovilovich to be just one factor in the Magic starting the season impressively with wins over the Willetton Tigers, Lakeside Lightning and Kalamunda Eastern Suns.

Gilday has been outstanding in all three games highlighted by a Player of the Week performance last Friday in the win over the Eastern Suns where she had 33 points and five rebounds.

To top that off it just happened to be the first game in the redeveloped Mandurah Aquatic and Recreation Centre.

Excitement builds in Mandurah for first game in new building 

What is happening on the court speaks for itself and Gilday could very well be the missing piece of the puzzle to take the Magic from contenders the past several season to getting over that hurdle and winning the club's first SBL title in 2017.

But it's off the court that the San Jose-native is enjoying even more about her experience in Australia so far.

Coming to any foreign country where you know nobody and little about the place would be daunting for anyone.

And Gilday was no different, but even before arriving she had developed a bond with her Magic teammates and coaches, and that's only grown more and more now that she has arrived.

"It is a little intimidating for sure just to be far away from home and on your own, but even from before I got here the girls were making me feel welcome and coaches reached out as well," Gilday said.

"I have felt comfortable straightaway and I was just excited to get another opportunity to play basketball that it kind of overshadowed any fears that I had. I've actually been surprised with just how welcoming everyone has been.

"It's not just the girls either, but their families and everything as well. People have been inviting me over for dinner and have been wanting to take me lots of different places. I already feel like I've seen so much. I even went to a footy game and I had obviously never seen that before so that was cool.

"I've been to Rottnest Island and have done all kinds of different things. The girls and their families make it a real community feel and that's nice to have when you're so far away from home. It's not that I wouldn’t expect them to be nice and welcoming, it's just more than I could ever ask for."

Coming out of college at Santa Clara, Gilday always knew she wanted to make the most of what basketball had to offer and that would likely be overseas.

Her first experience in Romania didn’t go to plan so that left her a little unsure about what was next, but something and somewhere a little more familiar to back home appealed to her.

She couldn’t be happier with how things have now turned out that she's in Australia and playing with the Magic in the SBL.

"This was actually one of the only opportunities that I had. My agent got in touch with Randy (Miegel) and I was speaking to them and it just seemed like a really good situation and I was really excited to come out to Australia," she said.

"I didn’t know much about Australia to be honest, but talking to anyone who had been here said that I would love it and that it was so beautiful, the people are so nice and you won't want to come home. My mum said that wasn’t allowed though. But I'm really happy to be here.

"I had been in Romania before coming here and that was a different experience. Coming here culturally it's a little more similar and there's not really a language barrier so that transition is definitely easier.

"It also helps that I'm living right next to a beautiful beach and things like that. Being in Europe is cool and you get to see a totally different lifestyle and culture, but being here is a gift for sure."

Things have surpassed any expectations Gilday had off the court, but things couldn’t be going any better on the floor either for the Magic with the three straight wins to open the season ahead of Thursday night's clash with the winless Cockburn Cougars at Wally Hagan Stadium.

"It's been great so far. We have a lot of experienced girls and a good mix of some young ones who are coming up as well. The team has really come together and the girls have welcomed me so it's been fun so far. I've been very happy with the start we've made," Gilday said.

"It's new to me obviously but I just love how hard the girls play. Yes we are going to make some mistakes and we'll have some kinks to work out especially early in the season but when the girls play as hard as they do it's contagious. That can make up for some of those mental errors or things that happen during games."

It is a Mandurah line-up full of talent with a good blend of youth and experience so it's tough for Gilday to single any of her teammates out.

But the arrival of Carly Boag after winning the WNBL championship with the Sydney Uni Flames gives them a different look while her back court partnership with 400-plus game legend Mihovilovich is exciting for her too.

"We only had one day of practice with Carly before her first game but she is settling in really nice and I think she will complement the group. She plays hard and it will be fun to have someone inside like her to feed off of," she said.

"She (Mihovilovich) is someone who has been in the league for a long time and just from the perspective of being a fellow guard, she is someone that I can learn from. She sets a really good example for the younger girls and in terms of how hard she works off the court as well.

"She has a lot going on. She is a mum and works full-time, but she gets up and is here at 5.30 in the morning shooting. I think that says a lot about where her mindset is at and we can all learn from that."

Looking back on her decorated career at Santa Clara, Gilday finished as the No. 1 free-throw shooter in the school's history as well as second in games played, No. 4 in points, field goals, field goal attempts and minutes played as well as No. 8 in points per game and steals.

She also led the nation in free-throw shooting at 94.5 per cent in her senior year of 2014/15 and that's only scratching the surface of her achievements. She had a 40-point game against Loyola Marymount University and will go down as one of the greats in Broncos history.

All of that is something she is proud of but she would have liked a championship.

"I was very proud of what I was able to achieve and I really enjoyed my time at Santa Clara," Gilday said.

"It was a great school, I had great teammates and it was really nice to have some of those accomplishments. But we didn’t win a championship so I'm hoping I can sort of finish that off here and get a championship. That's what I'm focusing on."

Following college, Gilday always knew she wanted basketball to play a big part in her life but she didn’t quite know what that would entail.

"I definitely always wanted to play professionally. I love basketball and I just wanted to play as long as I could. I am passionate about the game and I'm always trying to get better and it just worked out so awesome that I ended up in such a cool place like this," she said.

"I can take care of what I need to take care of on the basketball court but I can also have all the resources here to get better. It's also nice to be in such a beautiful place with so many things to explore and see."

On top of what she is doing on the court for the Magic and the way she is quickly settling in away from basketball, she has thrown herself fully into the Mandurah basketball community and is enjoying everything that entails.

"I've been coaching our u-18 teams and I've been helping out with the men's D-League team as well," Gilday said.

"That's a really good experience and I like how the set up is here with the feeder teams who grow into the SBL teams, which is cool and you can see what you are working towards and have guys who play for the club they grew up with.

"That ties into the culture and I've been lucky enough to be involved with that as well as running some clinics with the little kids which is always fun."

Photo by Vikki Hile