STEWART ADMITS BRITAIN BLEW IT - Hoopsfix.com

STEWART ADMITS BRITAIN BLEW IT

Azania Stewart admitted that Great Britain threw away the chance to deliver the upset of the EuroBasket Women finals with their late collapse against Lithuania on Thursday.

Turnovers and late misses proved fatal for Tom Maher’s side as they lost 64-63 after squandering a six-point cushion in the final quarter of their opening tie of the second round. However Stewart refused to use GB’s lack of experience at the top level as the reason for their downfall in Bydgsozcz.

“We’re totally kicking ourselves,” said the 22-year-old Londoner, who plays at the University of Florida.

“They got away with one. They know they did. But we went back to what we knew best, people turning over the ball and trying to hit home runs. We should have just calmed down and taken our time.

“It’s kind of disappointing because we really needed that win. It would have taken the edge off everything because we need two wins to get through to the next round. That win would have been really nice.

“It’s a lack of experience. But you can’t blame that right now. We had it. We made crucial turnovers and right at the end, even when we had the last shot and we turned it over. It’s disappointing.”

Britain must now beat both Turkey on Saturday and Russia on Monday to maximise their chances of earning a place in the quarter-finals of the competition. And Stewart acknowledged that her team has to put their heartbreak behind them to prepare for the Turks who were convincing victors in a friendly between the sides last month.

“We don’t have time to dwell,” the centre said.

“We have to get ready for Turkey who embarrassed us at their place. They’re a very good team and we have to get ready for them.”

 

U20s come up big

Great Britain’s Under-20 men pulled out a 98-80 victory over the Netherlands in a friendly in Bristol. Devon Van Oostrum hit a game-high points with Ryan Richards adding 18. The two sides have a re-match on Saturday.

 

 

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *