GB U23 3X3 SQUADS END ADVENTURE IN POLAND

Great Britain’s men and women ended their FIBA U23 3X3 Nations League odyssey on Friday with 0-2 records on the final day in Katowice, Poland.

The women, who have shown remarkable resilience throughout the Nations League tournaments, fought hard again today but unfortunately lost both games.

Cameron Taylor-Willis impressed but was the sole offensive spark as GB lost their opener 21-7 to Poland.

Taylor-Willis had six points to lead Great Britain as she single-handedly kept her side in it in the early going, helped by her team-mates finding her in good spots.

However, Poland kept ahead and wrapped up the win with 1:07 to spare through Klaudia Wnorowska. Julia Bazan led the way for the winners with 10 points.

Heading into the second game against Hungary, there was an eagerness about them from the opening possessions.

However, despite making life difficult for Hungary, GB could not capitalise, falling 16-7 to drop to 0-2 and fifth place.

Taylor-Willis and Louisa Gibbons led the way with three points each.

Like the women, the men also fell to fifth place, having narrowly fallen out of the podium spots in the last four stops.

They lost 21-11 to the overall winners, Israel, where rising star Gur Lavy stood out.

Blake Bowman led GB with five points.

But GB battled hard early on, reducing the deficit to 5-4 thanks to Louis Grante-Halliday, but despite good offensive pressure, the Israelis still kept ahead.

And soon enough, they built a sizable lead that was too much for Great Britain to overcome.

Lavy had 12 points for Israel and settled the tie with 1:47 remaining with a two-pointer.

Unfortunately for the Brits, they ran into Czechia and an inspired Kevin Tyml, who beat them 21-15 in the second game.

 The Czechs maintained their lead throughout, but Great Britain made life hard, with Bowman again standing out as he kept his side interested at 15-13 with 3:33 left.

But Czechia pulled clear for good late on, with Tyml settling the tie from the foul line.

Tyml had 10 points for Czechia.