GB U20 Women Go 1-2 in France

Report by Womens Basketball in France

Great Britain U20 Women returned from Le Temple-sur-Lot on a high after beating France 66-64, completing the first part of their preparation with a win, to go 1-2 overall in the three game series.

Damian Jennings and his staff had arrived in France on an invitation by the two-time gold medal winners of the U20 category in Division A in preparation for this summer’s European championship campaign.

The French 1991 generation were European Champions at U16 Division A level in 2007 and silver medalists at U18 level in 2009.

France, without their two best players (due to college commitments), have 19 of their 20 players playing full-time professional basketball in the first and second division in France.

Yet it was the British players who, despite losing the first two games, were faster in adapting to different styles and teams. Although smaller in height, their defence and good rebounding skills enabled them to compete on equal terms with their opponents.

Even though the first game was supposed to be behind closed doors, there were around 100 visitors including high profile former national coaches as well as club coaches from France.

After a promising opening quarter by Great Britain, where they trailed 18-14, France produced a defensive system to stop service to the British inside players. France opened up a double-digit lead by half time, after which the GB coaching staff tried out different systems for their players to learn from the situation. In the end Great Britain finished strongly but it wasn’t enough as they went down 55-42.

GB had a balanced scoring effort with Elidh Simpson and Erin McGarrachan each scoring eight points, Temi Fagbenie six, and both Renee Busch and Ella Clark five as nine of the visitors got on the scoresheet.

In the second game the French fielded a different roster, while the Great Britain line-up included a 12th player.

The game was close until Ella Clark was called for a shooting foul on Clémentine Samson. The player then converted all 3 free throws and used the momentum to bury a three-ball and France ended up leading the first quarter 20-9.

GB rebounded well, and converted a number of second chance points, but fighting from behind, any turnover was punished with points. GB’s misery was compounded by a French buzzer beating trey to give them a 34-21 lead.

After the break France thought they had put the game out of reach leading 42-22, however the GB players responded with their best phase of the game and even finished with the quarter with a Jessica Hurd buzzer beater to reduce the deficit to 49-33 going into the final quarter.

France used their experience in an evenly balanced final quarter to win 62-45. Temi Fagbenie and Jess Hurd led the scoring for GB with ten points apiece, with Katrin Chiemeka adding seven and both Gemma Bullard and Renee Busch finishing with five points apiece.

After watching the first two games, the anticipation for the final match-up was great and it did not disappoint.

GB were focused and aggressive from the tip, giving France no easy baskets.

Despite France edging the first quarter, the pendulum was swinging in favour of the guests. GB’s alternating inside-outside variations started to pay off while their distance shooters finally hit their target consistently to open a 10-point lead at half time.

France made their comeback in the fourth quarter after an evenly contested third. With 34 seconds to play, they were on level terms, but a score off a head fake by Gemma Bullard with 17 seconds left gave Damian Jennings and his staff their first victory of the this summer’s campaign, winning 66-64.

All 12 players got on the scoresheet on the last day which is encouraging from a collective point of view and also shows that the programme is heading in the right direction.

Temi Fagbenie shook off injury problems to lead GB with 13, while Bullard added 11 and Renee Busch 10. Jess Hurd and Kristy Sheils chipped in with six apiece and Erin McGarrachan finished with five points.

Head Coach Damian Jennings was pleased with the win:

“The win tonight was, of course, enjoyable, but more importantly at this stage I am confident that the players appreciate the work and task ahead of us.”

“As a coaching staff, all we asked of the players is that we make progress, and we feel they have done this across the France test series.”

“The challenge of Division A is a significant one, but we have built a clarity about the style of basketball that will give us the best chance of competing. I have no doubt that all national teams will be improving their game over the next three weeks, and we plan to do exactly the same as we move to Cardiff where we host Holland in a two game series.”

The next preparation camp will conclude with a two-game series against Holland on June 17th (5pm tip) and 18th (6pm tip) at University of Glamorgan Sports Park.