Victoria Unicomb has taken a giant leap in the basketball world.

The Maitland Mustangs junior has been selected in the Australian women’s under-17s squad.

But receiving higher representative honours came as a complete surprise for the Telarah 15-year-old.

Only a couple of days earlier she was congratulating her friend and NSW teammate Kate Hewitt on being picked in the national squad.

Next thing Unicomb knew, she was the one being congratulated after her on-court efforts had been recognised by Australian scouts.

“I didn’t know much about it,” Unicomb said.

“There was a girl [Hewitt] in my [NSW] team who got into it [Australian under-17s] and I thought that was heaps good for her.

“Then I got a phone call.

“It all happened so quickly and it still doesn’t feel real.”

Unicomb was given the nod after outstanding performances for NSW under-16 squads at the Australian Junior Championships last year and the Australian Country Junior Basketball Cup in Albury last month.

Unicomb’s state squad took out the latter and this result held her in good stead on the way to a green and gold uniform.

She will be one of 18 players taking part in a Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) training camp later this month.

The successful candidates will have the chance to contest the International Basketball Federation (FIBA) Under-17 World Championship in the Netherlands in August.

The prospect of playing on the international sporting stage is a real one for Unicomb but the talented teenager was simply taking it one step at a time.

“It is all a little bit nerve-racking,” she said.

“But going down to the AIS for the training camp will be great.

“All the professionals come from there, they have heaps of facilities and it will be a good learning experience.”

Head coach of the Australian women’s under-17s squad Marissa Fillipou said she was looking forward to the upcoming camps following a successful qualifying campaign.

“The athletes that took us through to the qualifiers did an excellent job and achieved the target we were looking at,” she said.

“Now we start again.

“We’ve opened up the squad to 18 athletes for the first camp in February and that squad is a moving beast all the time.

“We want the environment to be as competitive as possible, but also building the culture of our team and what underpins us is a real priority.”