On the courts and fields of Canberra, Australia, where they grew up, Callie and Isabelle Bourne were more often known as a single entity.

“It was always known around the area that we were the Bourne sisters, yeah, we were always together,” Callie said. “Every practice, every weight session, we’d always be together, enjoying it. ... She always knew what I would do, so we’d work together really well.”

Lincoln, Nebraska, is almost 9,000 miles away from Canberra, but that’s where they’ll meet again on Sunday as Callie’s Idaho State plays Issie’s University of Nebraska.

“I’m definitely excited to be able to play her, and for her to come here, and I think it will be a really good game for both of us,” Issie said. “I’m excited to even see her, but to play her, there aren’t really any words to describe it.”

Both ISU and Nebraska wanted the game to happen, but it had to be renegotiated after the COVID-19 pandemic blew up 2020-21 non-conference schedules.

It’s a rare chance for the sisters to see each other, and an even rarer chance for them to be on the same court.

“We wanted to do that for Callie and Issie, just so they can have that experience,” ISU head coach Seton Sobolewski said with their parents. “It’s just a really fun experience, and we’re all about that. We want to get people at least one game in their hometown, or as close to their hometown as we can.

“Well, we can’t do that when you’re Australian, you know, but we can let two sisters play against each other or see each other for a little bit.”

Not only that, it’s likely they’ll be guarding each other for at least part of the game.

Callie, at 5-foot-9 and a year older, started her ISU career as a point guard, but slowly slid up the positional spectrum for the Bengals because of their lack of bodies in the post, and now plays a lot of forward.

At 6-foot-2, Issie’s natural position is power forward.

“Usually we’re always on the same team, or if we do play against each other, we play different positions,” Callie said. “But because I’ve moved to a different position now, we’re going to be guarding each other. We’ve talked to each other about it, how it’s going to be weird, hard to take it seriously, but once we get in the game, we’re going to be super competitive and want to beat each other.”

That competitiveness comes naturally. The sisters, whose father played Australian Rules football and mother played basketball, started playing hoops after their older sister, Emma, did (Emma, who didn’t go to the U.S. to play in college, still plays and coaches locally in Australia).

Closer in age than Emma, who’s three years older than Callie, the two played on teams together, worked out together and played countless hours of one-on-one.

“We’ve pushed each other all these years to get to this level and to be able to play at this level,” Issie said. “It would get feisty at times, for sure. Being sisters, we’d fight on the court, but it’s made it all worth it getting to this point.”

When Callie went to Idaho State, the two made the decision that, after years of being linked, they wanted to do something different for college.

Issie, who had plenty of offers from Power 5 schools, went that route instead, picking Nebraska over Utah, Marquette and Arizona State.

“We wanted to separate and not be the Bourne sisters anymore and be Callie Bourne and Isabelle Bourne,” Callie said. “And you never know, after college, if we keep playing and meet up again, you never know, but we wanted to have our own college experience and play by ourselves for a little bit.”

Not surprisingly, their college careers have taken similar paths. Callie broke into the ISU rotation as a freshman guard, moved to a wing/post hybrid position as a sophomore and was second-team all-Big Sky.

Issie broke into the Nebraska rotation as a freshman, and now she’s starting for the Huskers as a sophomore.

“She really proved herself,” Callie said. “Being Australian, nobody really knew about her, but she just had to fit herself in as any freshman does. She just worked hard and did what she was told and got a role within the team. She’s really become a leader now on the team, even though she’s just a sophomore.”

The exact same quote could apply to Callie herself.

“You talk about toughness? Callie may have one of the hardest jobs on the team because she spends a lot of time as an undersized post,” ISU radio broadcaster Mark Liptak said. “She’s just one of those glue-type players you better have on a team if you want to win games. ... Whatever has to be done to win a game, she does it, no questions asked.”

When Sobolewski told Callie that the game was official, expecting to surprise her, she had already heard. The Nebraska coaches had told Issie, and she immediately passed on the news.

The sisters, who talk every day, blew up the phone lines talking to each other after the game was officially scheduled, gushing that they had scouted the other in practice that day.

“I think we’ve been looking forward to it for a while,” Callie said. “We always thought, if we went to different colleges, whether we’d get to play each other. So it is a dream of ours, and our parents appreciate and have been talking about it for a month every day now. It’s a lot of excitement to play against each other.”

GAME PREVIEWS

Nebraska is led by 6-foot-5 center Kate Cain, who finished third in the country in blocks a year ago. The Huskers also have junior guard Sam Haiby, who’s their leading returning scorer after averaging 10 points a year ago.

Issie Bourne isn’t the only Big Sky connection for Nebraska, as former Eastern Washington center Bella Cravens transferred to Lincoln after receiving honorable mention all-Big Sky honors in 2019-20.

Cravens was part of a huge roster overhaul, as the Huskers brought in eight new players in the offseason. That’s left ISU without much to scout going into the game.

The Huskers won their season opener against Oral Roberts on Friday, 90-61, with six players, including Bourne, Cain and Haiby, scoring in double figures.

Idaho State then travels to Kansas State for a Tuesday game.

The Wildcats have an All-America candidate in 6-foot-6 center Ayoka Lee, who was a Big 12 first-team selection last year as a freshman after averaging 15.7 points and 11.4 rebounds.

Kansas State has started the season 2-1, beating Newman (in an exhibition) and Southern and losing to Kentucky.