Irish captain Edel Thornton has set the lofty ambition of three wins from three during their jet-setting March FIBA EuroBasket 2027 qualifier window.
James Weldon's side have serious work to do if they are to advance to the second round with a top-two group finish or being amongst the three best third-place finishers of seven - but the skipper is certainly remaining positive.
It’s been a topsy-turvy campaign to date.
They no-showed at home to Luxembourg – a game they would have targeted a big performance in – before blowing away top sees Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Another defeat followed against Israel last November, but it took over-time to separate the sides.
They have a chance to avenge two of those results in the coming week on the road though with Luxembourg first up on Wednesday, Bosnia and Herzegovina are next on Saturday before a clash with Israel in Riga on St Patrick's Day.
"It's the first time we've come into a second window with a chance to qualify," Thompson told RTÉ Sport.
"There's a great buzz around the group and we have a real opportunity here and we really just want to take it.
"I think the Israel game, going into over-time, I suppose the scoreline (86-93) didn't reflect the performance that we actually put in at the end.
"Yeah, look, it's disappointing, but it's where we're at, so we just have to attack it, that we need to win all three, if not definitely two."
"I think, to be honest, if once we perform in every game, we should come away with a win but we definitely need a better performance against Luxembourg, so that'll set us up for the other two games," she added.
"I suppose the window is quite long - and we're travelling a lot this time - you don't want a poor performance on Wednesday to dictate the week.
"We spoke about that a little bit yesterday when we got together, that just a really good performance on Wednesday would be important."
The Gurranabraher Credit Union Brunell player is 29 now and a series of tough injuries throughout her career have provided a more mature outlook on the sport.
She’s always been touted as a star since becoming the first woman to win MVP in the Under-18 and U20 National Cup championships back with Brunell in 2013.
A US scholarship at Quinnipiac University in Connecticut followed before her Irish senior debut in 2018.
Having previously acted as co-captain with Grainne Dwyer, she was named captain of her country in August 2022.
Ireland name their squad for the upcoming FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2027 qualifiers #RTESport pic.twitter.com/S1Cx0IC0Xb
— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) March 9, 2026
Studying psychology in America has also given her the ability to assess what she can bring to the squad – something that also helped when dealing with a run of serious injuries, from cruciate injuries to broken noses.
"It's just managing your body now, managing our load over the next few days," she said.
"I think a few years ago I wouldn't have been able to understand that, and how to manage your body – obviously an injury makes you understand it.
"Do you know what? We'll be fine, and we'll all carry each other through, and if we get a win on Wednesday, the week will go as well as we want it to."
One of the players Thornton will be hoping to help carry through is new recruit Emer Dunne who is in line for her debut.
Like Thornton all those years ago, she has long been ear-marked as a future star with the UCC Glanmire player representing Ireland during last summer’s FIBA U20 EuroBasket tournament.
Thornton knows all about her new team-mate.
She said: "I coached Emer in the U18s European programme two years ago now, maybe three, so I know her quite well.
"[A] great personality to have into the group, and her ceiling is quite big, quite high, and it's nice to have her around the group and kind of blood her in now during this window.
"So it'll be really important for her to get training with us, get used to the group and then hopefully get a few minutes under her belt.
"She's great, and she just works so hard. I suppose, not being a post player, I have a lot of respect for the efforts that they go through in the key, and how hard it is to consistently rebound against the bigger bodies that we constantly meet in European competition."
