GB’s Men’s and Women’s U23 3x3 teams arrived in Szolnok, Hungary, for the next stage of the FIBA 3x3 U23 Youth Nations League 2025 - Europe 2, which would include Stops 4-6.

This stage saw success across the board for GB, highlighted by GB Women’s victory on Stop 5.

GB won Stop 5 of this stage of the Nations League

GB enjoyed a successful start to their Nations League campaign, with the men winning Stops 1 and 2 in Bucharest, Romania.

Led by the experience of Veron Eze, the dynamism of Victor Ndoukou, and the limitless shooting range of Elijah Walsh, GB Men won all of their games in the first two stops, proving the sheer talent of Head Coach Will Maynard’s side.

GB Women, led by Head Coach Kenrick Liburd, produced a disciplined display across the three stops, illustrating a fantastic level of team cohesion, to the delight of their coaches.

GB Women won one out of two games in each of their first two stops, with rising phenom Katie Januszewska and dynamic forward Parker Hill giving Coach Liburd much to work with heading into Szolnok.

Stop 4

Stop 4, or ‘day one’ of this three-stop/day round of the Youth Nations League, resulted in similar fates for both GB Men and Women.

GB Men

GB faced France in their opening match of Pool A.

GB controlled the opening period of the game, finding consistent opportunities to score in the paint through Walsh and Tomide Akinsiku; they took a 3-8 lead after four minutes.

However, a string of fouls committed by GB and some hot shooting from Hugo Pierre Emmanuel Cucherat brought France level with seconds to spare.

Despite Akinsiku’s dramatic late scores, the final of which connected with just eight seconds left in the match to give GB a one-point lead, Cucherat hit a buzzer-beating shot to tie the match and send it into overtime.

More Cucherat heroics by way of a two-pointer sealed the game for France in a hard-fought fixture, 17-16.

Boardman-Raffet lays it in for GB against France

GB’s second match against Romania proved less intense.

Eze and Akinsiku set the tone early, with Flynn Boardman-Raffet controlling the tempo towards the end, seeing the game out through his ability to get to the charity stripe and knock down free throws. Both Boardman-Raffet and Akinsiku scored seven points in the game to split the day for GB Men as they won 12-21.

GB Women

GB Women similarly split Stop 4 of the Nations League.

GB faced a challenging fixture in Italy to start the day. The game started with pace as GB spread the ball well, finding different scorers on their first three buckets.

The Italian offence revolved around a high-octane, attack-the-basket mentality, and quickly saw GB get into foul trouble as they scrambled to resist. Giorgia Palmieri and Caterina Gilli found themselves at the line or open thanks to this fast tempo on multiple occasions.

Despite a strong push from Januszewska with two minutes to go, Italy came out on top 17-14.

Januszewska drives the ball in GB's blowout win against Romania

GB played their second game of the day against Romania, in what would become the Parker Hill show.

Right from the off, Hill was in dominant form. Her aggression in the paint was relentless and unstoppable. Couple that with her technical execution, and Romania never stood a chance.

She scored 11 points during the match, with no free throws, winning it for GB 10-18.

Stop 5

GB Men

GB Men started Stop 5 against Italy in another close game.

GB enjoyed a positive offensive start through Akinsiku and a two-pointer from Walsh, but from the very beginning, the Italian star Lorenzo Piccin proved a handful.

Piccin made two jump shots from behind the arc early in the game, continuing to punish GB with his range throughout. Despite consistent efforts across the board from GB, his form sustained, and excess fouls from GB allowed him to ice the game 18-15.

GB celebrate big win over Romania

GB’s second match against Romania resulted in another blowout victory for Coach Maynard.

Initially, the game took the form of a shoot-out, with Vlad-Andrei Barbalata answering shots from Akinsiku, Boardman-Raffet, and Walsh.

But Boardman-Raffet quickly asserted himself, scoring 11 points throughout the game from every level and securing a 7-21 victory for GB.

GB Women

Stop 5 for GB Women proved an incredibly successful day.

In GB’s opening fixture against France, Parker Hill maintained her elite form, scoring her country’s first three points.

A swinging match ensued, with Lucile Muriel Marie-Hélène Jérôme pushing back for France, but Januszewska answering with a four-point run of her own.

Hill ultimately led GB in overcoming a strong French performance, driving GB’s scoring to close out the match in her nine-point performance. Final score: 14-18 GB.

GB’s second match against Romania resulted in a blowout victory and qualification for the Finals of Stop 5.

Again, Hill and Januszewska led from the front, scoring nine and seven points, respectively.

Ella Doherty and Jessica Ford added outside shooting and defensive intensity, helping GB to win 7-21.

As GB won both of their Pool Stage matches, they qualified for the Finals, in a showdown for victory in Stop 5.

GB Women celebrate victory at Stop 5 of Youth Nations League with Italy Men

Standing in their way, the talented Italian team that defeated GB the day before. This time, GB made no mistake.

Ford got the scoring started for GB before Palmieri and Gilli gave Italy a quick 1-4 lead.

Ford’s hot shooting continued as she plashed in a two-pointer, before both Januszewska and Hill added twos of their own.

The game remained tight throughout, as Italy found answers to each and every GB haymaker.

With three minutes to go, a run of scoring from Hill and some confident free-throw shooting from Januszewska and Ford gave GB the 18-13 lead.

Despite a late push from Italy, GB closed out through Hill to take victory, 21-17, in Stop 5.

Stop 6

GB Men

Stop 6 proved the most dramatic and the most successful of GB’s trip to Szolnok.

First up for GB: France. Both teams came out the blocks firing. Lucas Ugolin scored France’s first three points, whilst GB spread the ball, finding different scorers courtesy of good passing and movement.

The game balanced on a knife edge, despite a strong mid-match run from Eze and Boardman-Raffet, until a four-point scoring run from Walsh gave GB a 13-18 lead.

Ugolin made one final push, knocking down two free throws with two minutes left to go, but a strong drive and finish from Eze won the game for GB 19-21.

GB’s next game against Hungary was even tighter. GB had the superior start, with Walsh continuing his fine shooting form.

Hungary found success in the paint, executing over GB’s defence. Only Boardman-Raffet’s two score interrupted an eight-point burst from Hungary.

GB again fired back hard, with the entire team getting in on the action to tie the game at 16-16.

Back and forth it went, into overtime, until a Hungary foul sent Boardman-Raffet to the line to shoot two free throws and win the match. Cold as ever, he dispatched both comfortably, winning the match 20-22 for GB.

With two victories on the bounce, GB qualified for the Finals of Stop 6, against Italy.

A packed crowd for the Youth Nations League Finals

Italy attacked hard as Andrea Loro connected on consecutive two-pointers and a layup, completing a solo five-point run.

Walsh and Russell-Walters kept the pressure on Italy through their relentless finishes through contact at the rim, but with 7:11 left to go, Morgan Rashed awoke.

Rashed put on a monstrous display, scoring seven unanswered points and totally dominating at every level of the court. 

Fortunately, Boardman-Raffet was in a similar mood. His aggressive pursuit of the basket kept GB within touching distance. This included a monstrous block at the rim, from which he ran straight to the two-point line to cash in a jumper.

Eze conducted the offence with his passing, finding Boardman-Raffet and Russell-Walters as they cut to the rim.

With two minutes to go, GB cut into Italy’s 15-19 lead, with Boardman-Raffet leading the way.

Nevertheless, Rashed again found success at the rim before Piccin sealed the victory for Italy, 19-21.

GB Women

Stop 6 for GB Women would pose their most significant challenge.

Not only would they need to muster a huge effort to replicate their Stop 5 heroics, but they faced stiff competition in Italy and Hungary, perhaps their most difficult pool so far.

GB’s opening game against Italy was cagey and close throughout.

GB started quickly, as they have done across this stage of the competition. Januszewska and Hill produced four scores between them in the first couple of minutes, cutting and moving off one another.

The game lulled as Italy began drawing successive fouls, gradually taking two-point lead towards the halfway mark.

GB’s offence then kicked back into gear, with Hill scoring inside three times in a row before Doherty splashed ina two-pointer. Doherty would make one more shot from deep, helping to give GB a narrow 10-12 lead, before the Italian defence clamped down, and refused to allow GB to score again.

On the other side, Italy tied the game through a couple of impressive scores from Ashley Chinenye Egwoh, and Palmieri forced her way to the free throw line to secure a 14-12 victory for Italy.

GB battle against Italy

GB's next match against Hungary was just as tight.

This time, GB started slowly, with Hungary taking a 5-2 lead through an aggressive start from Tamara Szerencsés.

Januszewska punched back with a quick score and then a two-point make, before Ford and Doherty added scores of their own.

However, GB’s ill-discipline early, where they committed too many fouls, set up the end of the game in Hungary’s favour, as they scored six consecutive free throws to win the game 19-14.