Much-improved GB battle but fall short against Czechs
Chema Buceta’s Women’s side concluded their trip to the Czech Republic today with the second of two friendlies on the continent and were much-improved from their opening outing in the country’s capital on Thursday.
Great Britain’s first preparation game of the training camp took place in Prague yesterday and identified areas of improvement for the team for the remainder of the camp, which they were able to act upon very quickly going into today’s match.
Coach Buceta’s side started brightly but grew into the game even more as the first half progressed, trailing the hosts by seven at halftime with Temi Fagbenle and Erin McGarrachan leading the scoring in the opening 20 minutes for GB.
A 14-0 run early in the third quarter for the hosts blew the game wide open, with some astute three-point shooting giving the Czechs a cushion that GB would be unable to hunt down going into the remainder of the game.
The home side finished the encounter 66-48 winners, but it was a vastly improved performance for Great Britain with a lot of encouraging moments to build upon as training camp returns to Manchester over the weekend with two games against France in Lyon on the cards next week.
Following the result, Coach Buceta commented:
“These two games have been very important for us as the first games we’ve played in our preparations for Women’s EuroBasket. We began camp just a week ago and have come into two games against one of the best teams in Europe.
“The results were obviously not what we wanted, but the result wasn’t the focus of these games – it was to bring the team together, to see how the group performs, to help us make final decisions, and it was about much more than results.
“I am happy with the performance today because from last night to this game we have improved a lot in a short space of time, which is a good sign because it shows we can learn quickly, and I’m sure we’ll benefit a lot from this experience as we continue our preparations for Slovenia.”
Full livestats and boxscore for the game can be found here.