HANDY SHOW CAN'T STOP SWEDES - Hoopsfix.com

HANDY SHOW CAN’T STOP SWEDES

GBW Chantelle Handy 568

Chantelle Handy hit a game-high 22 points but Great Britain’s women lost 80-62 to hosts Sweden in their second friendly of the weekend in Sodertajle on Saturday.

Damian Jennings side never truly recovered after falling 20-10 behind in the opening period and the Swedes swept 39-26 in front by half-time.

GB hit back to close the gap in the fourth quarter as Handy led a charge but the home team pulled away in the closing minutes.

“We are producing some offensive plays that create problems for teams, that’s one of the real positives,” said Jennings. “Unfortunately today we weren’t able to put back-to-back defensive stops with a good score, and too many unforced errors created our woe.”

The home side got off to a strong start and led 22-12 after the first quarter. As the game wore on, GB began to improve at both ends of the floor and trailed 39-26 at the half.

Great Britain enjoyed a good third period offensively, cutting the deficit to 48-37 on a Stef Collins three-pointer, before Sweden hit back to lead 61-47 going into the final quarter.

GB battled bravely during the fourth and had hopes of a comeback of cutting the deficit to 71-62 on a three-pointer from the impressive Handy, before a 9-0 Sweden run secured the host’s victory.

Handy said: “We learnt a lot of things from this defeat today and we’ve just go back and work on them. We have another game tomorrow and we’re going to come out, be more energetic and try to be stronger.”

Britain have their final tune-up ahead of EuroBasket on Sunday when they take on Latvia, who were 62-52 winners over Turkey’s Under-20 side.