GB Lose to Latvia on the Buzzer

By Sam Neter on June 3, 2013

Great Britain suffered a heartbreaking 56-54 loss to Latvia after Ieva Krastina hit a three on the buzzer in Sodertalje, Sweden, on Sunday.

A dramatic finale saw Great Britain lead 54-53 on a Chantelle Handy basket with 22 seconds remaining, only for Latvia’s Ieva Krastina to score a buzzer-beating three-pointer.

Handy had a good scoring performance for a second straight game, leading all scorers with 18 points while Kim Butler recorded a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds.

The two teams will meet again at EuroBasket Women in France later this month and GB head coach Damian Jennings will be working hard to ensure his side come out on top.

“We’re obviously disappointed to lose on a buzzer-beating three,” he said. “But we’ve seen some great growth over this whole tournament and it highlighted some of the areas we’ve got to stay away from in our basketball.

“I think we both sized each other up very well in this game and we’ve certainly got things to work on at both ends of the floor.”

In a low scoring opening quarter, GB kept Latvia scoreless for long stretches and established a 12-4 lead, before Latvia hit back with a 7-0 run to trail 12-11 at the break.

The scoring pace increased in the second with Kim Butler and Chantelle Handy combining for 18 points in the quarter, giving Great Britain a 34-31 advantage at the half.

A tight third quarter saw GB increase their lead to 44-40, but during the final period the lead changed hands five times in the last three minutes before Latvia sealed the win on the buzzer.

“We started out really well, implementing what we needed to and running the court, and we were really in sync today,” said Butler. “It was a well-fought game but it came down to tough shots at the end.

“It’s frustrating but that’s basketball. We hit a good shot in the corner and they came back and scored at the buzzer, but we’re coming out of this tournament positive.”

GB have now completed their pre-EuroBasket schedule and will return to their Surrey training camp to continue preparations for their opening EuroBasket group game against Serbia on June 15.

“We’ve got two days now of recovery for the players and then we move into our last phase of training,” said Jennings. “We’ve got plenty of detail to improve on and I think we’re all excited about all we can do before we travel to France.”

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