The smile on her face said it all.

Rachel Williams was both happy and satisfied to make the NSW Country under-16 girl’s team she had long been shooting for.

“I just couldn’t believe it,” the 15-year-old from Kurri Kurri said.

“I was really excited because I have been aiming for that team the past couple of years.”

The Maitland Mustangs junior has been part of the last three tours to the Australian Country Championships in Albury but this time Williams made her mark and was selected for higher honours.

After receiving the call-up from the January tournament Williams made it through further trials on her home court at the Maitland Federation Centre before attending a four-day camp at Bathurst.

She was recently named in the 10-player squad and will now don the NSW Country uniform at the prestigious Australian Junior Championships for the under-16 age group.

That tournament will be held in Adelaide in July and Williams said she “can’t wait” to have a crack on the national stage.

The shooting guard will be up against the best in the business from across the country for her age group when she travels to the South Australian capital.

In the meantime Williams, a year 10 student at All Saints College, St Peter’s Campus, Maitland, will continue playing for the Mustangs’ under-16 girls in the Country Premier League.

She also trains under Russell Potter and Stuart Hancock as part of the National Intensive Training Program rolled out through local and state bodies via Basketball Australia.

Two others from the program, Sophie Richards and Daniel Millburn, were named as reserves for the NSW Country under-16 girls’ and boys’ squads respectively.