England U18 Women Finish 8th

The England U18 Women finished 8th

The U18 Women’s team closed out their FIBA Division B European Championships with a 62-53 loss against Finland yesterday, placing them 8^th overall in Division B.

After placing 1^st in Group C during the preliminary round, England went on to face Belarus. Michael Ball’s team came out strong to start the game and continued to stay on top until the third. They could not, however, find an answer for Nadzeya Bohdan, as she went for 24 points and eight rebounds and brought Belarus back in the final quarter and on to win the game, 81-76. Temitope Fagbenle stuffed the box score for England with 24 points, 10 rebounds, three steals and two blocked shots.

Denmark was next for England. Denmark took an 8-0 lead at the start of the first quarter and England could not come back into the game. Denmark rolled on to win 68-53 behind 23 points from Gritt Ryder whilst England’s Fagbenle again led the scoring with 15 as well as grabbing 10 boards. Renee Busch was the only other English player in double figures with 13 points

Following the loss to Denmark, Coach Ball led his team into their final game, for 7^th place, against Finland. Yet again England started the game well, however by the fourth quarter they were trailing by three. A Renee Busch three levelled the game and at 41, Finland responded but England stuck with their opponents and the game was still tied with 4:18 to go in the game. Finland then locked down defensively and England could not convert as Finland pulled away to claim 7^th place in the competition 62-53.

Full player and game statistics from all of England’s game are available here. Temitope Fagbenle consistently remained at the front of England’s attack. Over the course of the tournament she averaged 16 points (5^th overall in the tournament), 12 rebounds (1^st overall), two steals and 2.5 blocked shots (2^nd overall), a great tournament for the promising young player.

Image Credit: FIBA Europe/ITSPORTS Limor Noah