GB Women Go Down to Czech Republic
By Joe Pinchin | @joepinchin
A strong effort from the GB Women wasn’t enough to prevent their second EuroBasket defeat of the weekend as they went down 60-45 against world number two, the Czech Republic tonight.
The loss means they go into Monday’s game with Israel knowing it is a case of win or go home, with nothing less than a victory taking them into the second stage of the competition.
Jo Leedham led the way for Tom Maher’s GB side with 14 points in just 15 minutes. Julie Page and Rose Anderson each added seven points along with four and one rebound respectively, while Azania Stewart had six rebounds, and Kim Butler added 5 points and 5 rebounds.
Katerina Elhotova was dominant for last summer’s World Championship silver medallists, hitting 6 threes to finish with 27 points.
GB Women’s head coach, Tom Maher, has praise for his team despite the loss:
“It was a good game and I am happy we played it, congratulations to the Czechs. When you play Belarus or the Czech team it is a miracle if you win.
“We were better than yesterday, and that’s encouraging. Tomorrow is a high pressure game against Israel. I will be as nervous as every other time when you play these kind of games and that’s not a bad thing.”
Jo Leedham, was pleased with how her team played against the European powerhouse:
“We competed really well tonight. The Czechs are a great team with great players and I think we did well against the goals that we set for this game. We competed really well, we were physical and fought right until the end but they were just better than us.”
GB came out with great defensive intensity in the first quarter, managing to keep the game close in the early stages, sparked by Jo Leedham, coming off the bench to score 7 points as GB went into the first break up 13-9.
With Leedham on the bench in the second quarter, GB’s scoring troubles resurfaced as the Czech Republic slotted back into their groove. As Coach Maher’s side dropped into the penalty, Leedham broke an 11-0 run by the Czechs as she drained a three. Katerina Elhotova started to heat up, draining two threes but foul trouble allowed Great Britain to go the line consistently and trail by just four at the half, 23-27.
GB’s aggressiveness to start the second half led to five very quick fouls from the Czech Republic but the hot shooting of Elhotova continued, pushing the lead up to double digits, as GB were down 35-48 at the final break. The hard-nosed defence from GB continued for the remainder of the game however, little offensive success meant the Czechs took the win, 60-45.
Full stats and play by play from today’s game can be found here.
GB now play Israel at 14:00 BST on Monday (BBC red button or live streamed on the BBC website) with the winner progressing to the second stage of EuroBasket 2011.
Image: Mansoor Ahmed Photography
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