GB Women move CLOSER TO FIBA 3X3 Europe CUP
Great Britain’s women finished third in Pool B of the FIBA 3X3 Europe Cup Qualifiers with a 1-2 record in Bucharest, Romania and will play Greece for a spot in the semi-finals tomorrow (Sunday).
The semi-final winners will advance to the FIBA 3X3 Europe Cup, which will be held in Austria from 22 to 25 August.
“It was a great experience for the team to play these games after the camps they had,” Great Britain 3X3 women’s coach Krumesh Patel said.
“It’s a unique situation because it’s the first time playing together so we played really good competition of a national team level, we’re learning and playing in good spells, but we’ve also shown spells of naivety but that’s expected as we haven’t played together and we’re playing at a national team level.”
The women, comprised of Hannah Jump, Savannah Wilkinson, Hannah Robb and Claire Paxton, battled hard in the first game against a more experienced Latvian side. Still, two dagger two-pointers from Paula Maurina and Marta Leimane ultimately put the game out of reach, as GB lost 21-13.
Until those back-to-back doubles from Latvia, Great Britain, thanks to Robb and Wilkinson kept it close in the early going, despite both teams struggling to find any offensive consistency.
Two quick scores from Robb narrowed the deficit to 6-4 nearly halfway through the game, but the doubles from Maurina and Leimane stretched Latvia’s lead to 10-4.
GB battled on, and as the clock was winding down, a 4-0 run from Krumesh Patel’s side gave them hope. But Latvia reached 21 points with 32.8 seconds to spare from the line to claim victory.
Robb and Wilkinson both had five points to lead Great Britain. Leimane led all scorers with 10 for Latvia.
The loss motivated Great Britain, as they had two hours of rest and stormed out of the blocks in its second game against Georgia.
GB set the tone of the game by scoring the first nine points, including their first two-pointer of the tournament through Robb. They maintained their lead, leaving no room for the Georgians to catch up, and ultimately, they triumphed 22-4.
With a point to prove and potential elimination if they lost, Great Britain were relentless offensively and defensively. They forced their opponents into three shot-clock violations and held them scoreless for the first five minutes.
It took less than eight minutes for Great Britain to wrap the game up as Wilkinson ended the one-sided contest with a two-pointer to take her tally to 11 points, with Robb adding seven with three doubles to her name, as they both out-scored Georgia on their own.
The positive spell, though, couldn’t carry over to Great Britain’s last group game against Romania, as a 5-0 run followed by a 6-0 burst late on handed the hosts a 21-12 victory.
It was a positive start for GB, though, as Jump scored three early points to give her side a 5-2 lead. However, Romania, led by their key player Andreea Mititelu, would fight back as she scored four of her side’s five unanswered points to steer them ahead.
Despite decent spells for GB, they couldn’t find a way back as they fell to defeat and third place in Pool B.
Jump and Robb led GB with four points each. Mititelu led all scorers for the Romanians with nine.
Great Britain’s decider against Greece will begin at 1:05 pm BST on the FIBA 3X3 YouTube Channel. The winner will advance to the last four.