GB JUNIORS STANDOUT ACROSS EUROPE
Great Britain’s FIBA Youth EuroBasket campaign ended on a massive high.
The U16W claimed promotion to Division A thanks to a stunning combination of team and individual performances in Turkey.
The Brits took the bronze medal in Konya by beating the hosts 84-62. Milton Keynes Breakers point guard Athena Thompson ended up as the tournament’s top scorer and earned a place in the All-Star Five.
Other notable British performances were also recorded in Turkey, with Manchester Mystics guard Irene Oboavwoduo finishing fourth in scoring and Richard Knights forward Chloe Vella seventh in rebounding.
But the success in Turkey was based on a formidable team effort, led by head coach Donnie Macdonald and assistants Maialen Ansoain Zilbeti and Azeb Smalley.
GB began by beating Bosnia and Herzegovina 105-34. Athena and Irene combined for 52 points, and every player got their name on the scoresheet.
A 77-51 victory over Estonia followed, with Irene securing 31 points, 11 rebounds, and nine steals. Athena and Neve Rugette added eight and five steals, respectively, while Chloe (12) and Emma Briggs (10) demonstrated their rebounding prowess in a fantastic defensive effort.
There was a minor blip when GB fell 79-63 to Lithuania in their next game, despite 26 points from Thompson, but they bounced back with an 82-66 win over Iceland to finish second in Group B.
The victory over Iceland was by no means straightforward. Down 59-46, GB took the final quarter 36-7. Thompson registered 28 points and six steals, while Emma claimed 19 points, 10 rebounds, and four steals.
In the last eight, GB defeated Group A winners Denmark 86-61, taking the third quarter 31-10 to kill the game as a contest and setting up a semi-final against Czechia.
The Czechs came out on top in the dying seconds in a tightly fought contest, winning 65-61.
The result might have knocked the stuffing out of the young Brits, but they showed great heart against Turkey, stunning the hosts with a 26-3 opening quarter to take command of the game.
Thompson claimed 24 points in the 22-point win to finish with an average of 22.6 points as GB sealed a deserved promotion to Division A.
Other British players performed notable performances in EuroBasket. However, no other GB team could make it past the quarter-finals to earn a shot at promotion to Division A.
U20 Women
Great Britain ended their campaign with two wins to finish in seventh place, as illness blighted the 15-team competition in Bulgaria.
Qualifying second from their three-team group by beating Romania (84-63) after an opening loss to Netherlands (77-66), Chantelle Handy’s team missed out on the semi-finals when they were beaten by Belgium (82-48) and Croatia (74-63).
In their first classification game, GB was missing head coach Handy and Leicester Riders guard Kate Januszeweska because of illness, and they lost 70-55 to Ukraine.
On the final day of action, Britain was due to play Croatia to determine who finished seventh, but their opponents forfeited because they could not field a team.
Illness affected several teams. Slovakia was also forced to forfeit a classification game to Bulgaria because of a lack of players.
GB had a number of standout performers in Sofia. Welsh forward Issy Bunyan finished with 11.4 ppg, including a game-high 25 against Romania. The versatile Montana State player also averaged seven rebounds and three assists per game.
Januszweska, who subsequently earned a spot in GB’s squad for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup qualifiers, averaged 11.3 points, six rebounds, and two assists.
Liv Forster, heading to Division One’s South Carolina Upstate, averaged 10.8 points, 2.2 rebounds, and four assists, scoring 21 points in the loss to the Netherlands.
U20 Men
Great Britain began with two commanding victories over Ireland (85-66) and Azerbaijan (97-51), but defeats against the Netherlands (102-75) and Portugal (90-79) ended their hopes of making the last eight.
In their opening classification game, Lance Randall’s team bounced back by beating Latvia 82-70. However, a 72-63 loss to Bulgaria, with Latrell Davis and Manie Joses both absent, left them to battle Estonia for the 11th spot. An 84-83 reverse meant GB had to settle for 12th.
Latrell, Manie, and Tyrese Lacey all caught the eye in Pitesti. The San Jose State guard Latrell averaged 19.5 points to stand second in the scoring table, claiming 20+ points in four games. He also had an average of 5.3 rebounds, three assists and 2.7 steals.
His standout game came against Portugal when he claimed 23 points, eight rebounds, six assists, and two steals to finish with an efficiency of 30.
Joses, who plays for Davidson College, registered double-digit scores in every game, including 21 against Azerbaijan and 20 in the narrow loss to Estonia. His average points tally of 15.5 put him eighth in the scoring charts. He also averaged 4.7 rebounds, 2.5 steals and 1.8 assists per game.
Lacey finished second in the assists table with an average of 8.1, including 13 against Latvia and 11 against Bulgaria. The former Myerscough player heading to Daytona State also averaged 11.1 points, two steals, and 4.7 rebounds.
U18 Women
Great Britain opened with a brilliant 62-61 win over Lithuania in Romania, behind 18 points from Bo Guttormsdottir Frost and 12 rebounds from Haley Wright.
Katie Cox, in her final outing as a GB player, added 16 points, and Krumesh Patel’s side’s 25-11 third quarter proved decisive in Ploiesti.
GB never got going in their next game against Denmark, losing the opening quarter 22-8 and eventually losing 65-38.
The Brits began slowly against the Netherlands, too, but dug in for a 67-57 win to secure the top spot in Group B and a tough quarter-final against Greece.
The Group A runners-up proved too much of a hurdle for GB, taking control in the first quarter before running out 68-50 winners.
A 29-16 opening quarter set the Brits on the way to victory in their first classification game against Bosnia and Herzegovina, behind 22 points from Bo.
Despite Bo’s 13 more points and Katie’s 14, GB lost 73-62 to Lithuania in their final outing, ending the 18-team tournament in sixth spot.
Guttormsdottir, who plays her club basketball in Iceland, finished 12th in the scoring table with 15 ppg, while Valencia center Haley was seventh in rebounding with 8.5.
Under 18 Men
Great Britain struggled during their campaign in North Macedonia. They failed to win a group game and finished in 19th place.
In an opening 80-67 defeat against Georgia, Barking Abbey guard Moziah King-Danchie scored 16 points, adding an impressive six steals, five assists, and six rebounds.
No British players scored double digits in the 58-51 loss to Norway before an 81-52 reverse against Portugal ended any hopes GB had of making it to the quarter-finals.
Alan Keane’s team ended the group phase with an 85-63 loss to Austria despite 17 points for Moziah and 13 from Re’Ale Basquine, a shooting guard from US high school Middle Township.
GB recorded its first win of the tournament in its opening classification game, beating Cyprus 63-57. Re’Ale scored 20 points, 13 rebounds, and two assists.
Aymen Kraria scored 11 points, 12 rebounds, and 6 steals in a 56-53 loss to Bosnia and Herzegovina, before the Brits ended the tournament with a 78-72 victory over the Netherlands.
A 32-14 third quarter put GB in control against the Dutch as Re’Ale finished the game with 27 points, 12 rebounds, and four assists. Ivan Eweka, at Springdale Prep in the USA, added 16 points and six rebounds, while Aymen claimed 8 points, seven rebounds, seven assists, and seven steals.
Aymen, who plays for Glasgow Rens in Scotland, ended as the tournament’s second-best rebounder, with ten a game, and was also second in steals, with 3.1 a contest.
Under 16 Men
Narrow defeats to Ireland and Slovakia in their opening games put Great Britain on the back foot in North Macedonia.
Despite wins over Denmark and Norway sandwiching a loss to Romania, they had to settle for minor placings in Skopje.
In a 70-65 reverse against Ireland, Aiden Fyfe scored 16 points, while Ike Davids, Emmanuel Ahamefule, and Kelvin Aigbogun showed their offensive and defensive capabilities.
After a 67-64 loss to Slovakia, GB recorded a 66-60 victory over Denmark. Aiden top-scored with 17 points, while Ike added 12 points and 13 rebounds.
GB were beaten 76-57 by Romania before Aiden stole the spotlight with 29 points, six rebounds, three assists, and four steals in his team’s final group fixture, an 85-62 win over Norway.
In the classification games, GB beat Austria (78-56) before defeating Hungary (69-51) and Portugal (76-53), leaving Dan Petts’ team in the 12th spot.
Aiden’s 26 points in the defeat to Portugal left him with an average of 15.8 ppg, putting the Houston Christian High School guard in joint 11th spot in the scoring charts.
Ike, who plays for Charnwood Riders, was joint seventh in the rebounding rankings with 9.3 a game.