These are just some of the tributes WNBL coaches and players have paid Bendigo Spirit star Belinda Snell ahead of her 250th WNBL game.

The three-time Olympian reaches the milestone against the Townsville Fire on Friday night.

The game in Townsville marks the latest in a swag of accolades for the 34 year-old that includes seven championships - won in five different countries - a gold medal at the 2006 world championships and a pair of Olympic silver medals and one bronze.

Snell said the milestone was a "huge honour", especially after missing several WNBL seasons while plying her trade overseas in the WNBA, Spain, Poland and Russia.

The class shooter considers herself fortunate to be playing "such and amazing game" and "lucky to be able to travel the world doing it".

"Basketball is my passion. I love playing and the competitiveness of the WNBL," Snell said.

"It's always been a strong league, with so many great players coming through."

Snell was born in 1981, the same year the WNBL was founded.

Her arrival into the league in 1998-99 provided the former Victorian Country representative from Mirboo North with one of her proudest moments,.when she was part of the first Australian Institute of Sport squad to win a WNBL championship.

The team included a who's who of Australian basketball, including Lauren Jackson, Penny Taylor, Suzy Baktovic and Kristen Veal.

"It was an amazing time and a great experience," Snell said.

"At the time I don't think we realised how big it was, but now you look back and you are very appreciative and thankful for all the time and effort our coach Phil Brown put into us.

"It was a great honour to win with the AIS and those girls are still battling around."

Wherever Snell has played, success has never been far away.

A second WNBL championship with the Sydney Panthers in 2000-01 is also etched proudly in the free-scoring swingman's memory.

"We were underdogs going into the finals against the Canberra Capitals, I think we were close to 10 points down with two minutes to go," Snell said.

"To come up with some huge plays, knock down some shots and upset Canberra in Canberra was pretty special.

"I've been in five losing grand finals as well, that's not much of a highlight."

One of those losses came in 2014-15 in her first season with the Spirit, which fell of notching a third consecutive title against Townsville.

Snell said the decision to head to Bendigo, after a stint with Polish league club CCC Polkowice, came down to a choice between continuing her WNBL dream in Sydney or closer to family in Victoria.

"I started basketball in country Victoria, so it's nice to be able to come back here where there is a regional team in a national league," she said.

"My family have been there for me throughout my entire career - they have been amazing.

"It's also great seeing my nieces and nephews coming to games."

Along the journey, which could potentially include a fourth Olympics in Rio next year, Snell has won the admiration and respect of teammates and opponents alike.

Townsville coach Chris Lucas remembers the first time he encountered Snell playing for Victoria Country at the national championships in the late '90s.

"I was coaching South Australia and she was playing for Vic Country and they beat us in the gold medal game," Lucas said.

"I think she had a lazy 20 (points) and 15 (rebounds) in that game.

"She has been a wonderful representative for Basketball Australia and the Opals for many years.

"She's in pretty good form at the moment and is obviously an international standard shooter."

An Opals assistant at the Athens Olympics in 2005, Lucas has spent a solid part of the past two decades coaching or coaching against Snell.

He said Snell, who still holds the WNBL single-game scoring record of 54 points set in 2005 and is averaging nearly 15 points a game across her 12 seasons, would again figure prominently in the Fire's plans on Friday.

Spirit coach Simon Pritchard believed Snell's influence lied way beyond her impact on the stats sheet, including this season where she is averaging 12.6 points per game, 4.3 rebounds per game and 3 assists per game.

"The thing about her is she does everything by example," he said.

"She carries herself like a professional and has a real aura about her because of her experience.

"She's such a professional in the way she goes about her basketball, it just sets the tone for a whole basketball program."

Teammate Kerryn Harrington, who has played both against and alongside Snell in the WNBL, described the four-time league All-Star as the perfect role model for her and especially the Spirit's crop of aspiring stars.

"She is one of those people that when you don't know her and you look at her from afar, you just have so much admiration for her and what she's achieved," Harrington said.

"Being a Vic Country player myself, being able to look up to someone who comes from the country and has risen through the ranks and achieved everything she's achieved makes it a bit more real.

"She's such a beautiful person and such a great teammate to have, and has got nothing but kind words to say about everyone."

The Spirit will mark Snell's milestone at their home game against the Melbourne Boomers on December 12.

It will be a moment to cherish for the Australian basketball stalwart with several close friends and members of her under 12 and 14 Mirboo North teams headed to Bendigo for a reunion.

Snell said the drive for another WNBL title firmly remained.

"There's been a whole lot of changes this season and it’s a whole new group getting used to each other,” she said.

“You never know. You can see from our results this year we have beaten some real strong teams, but then we have had some lapses as well.

"We just need to put four quarters together."