GB U20 Women Remain Undefeated in Europeans

The GB U20 Women are enjoying an extremely strong start to their Division B FIBA European Championship campaign in Macedonia, remaining undefeated after three games and sitting atop of their group.

The Brits opened the competition strong against Belgium. After a 15-6 run in the first quarter, the team continued to perform as a unit and behind Katrin Chiemeka’s 15 points, (leading all scorers) GB pushed to a 61-42 triumph, a strong team performance to start the competition with all players contributing well.

In their second game, against Hungary, GB were not able to start with the same dominance on the defensive end and found themselves tied after the first, 20-20. Damien Jennings’ side were able to carry a small lead into the fourth with Miari Buchan clearing up the glass (finishing with 8 in twenty six minutes of play) and the starting five playing heavier minutes than in their first game. GB did enough to close out the game ending 54-50.

Coach Jennings was happy with the win,

“This was obviously a pleasing win. Hungary are a skilled, well coached side and it took a gutsy, warrior like performance for us to turn them over”

In their third game, yesterday evening, GB took on the hosts Macedonia. The game proved the most testing so far for the young women. Team GB were led by another solid performance from Miari Buchan (ended with 17 and 12), but struggled to stop Jelena Antik for Macedonia. Antik totaled a ridiculous stat line of 25 pts, 11 boards, 7 assists, 3 steals and a block. Antik’s performance was not enough, GB stole the game away with some clutch play by Tamzin Barroilhet, scoring 4 points in the last minute to give GB a 1 point win, 70-69. The win certifies that the women will advance in the competition.

The U20’s team will face the Czech Republic, who are also undefeated in the championships, tomorrow in their final group game and will look to remain perfect as they advance through to the next round.