England U16 Final Squad Named

Head coach Karen Burton has named her 12 players that will represent England at the FIBA Europe U16 European Championship Women Division B in Portugal starting on 1 August.

A year after relegation from Division A, the squad will be keen to finish in the top three at the tournament to earn promotion back to the top level for 2014.

The final squad is as follows:

2013 England Under-16 Women Squad

Samantha Clement, USA
Jessica Davies, Hertfordshire Warriors
Jenelle Grant, Haringey Angels
Abigail Johnson, Hounslow Hawks
Rhianna-Mae Laing, Leeds Carnegie
Abigail Lowe, Lardin, France
Kyla Nelson, Worthing Thunder
Gabriele Nikitinaite, Sevenoaks Suns
Shanice Norton, Eastside Eagles
Molly Taylor, Kingston Wildcats
Rebecca Taylor, Bromgsrove Bears
Savannah Wilkinson, Haringey Angels

“The team has responded well throughout the warm-up games and each game has provided its own set of problems for us to solve,” said Burton. “One of the main areas our team has developed in has been the intensity at which we compete at throughout the whole game. We have learnt how to continue to fight through adversity and it has helped to make our group more cohesive and to strengthen our chemistry.

“Our preparation program has been a process about educating our players on how to become a successful National Teams player, both on and off the court. We have taken a holistic approach to developing our athletes – athletically, technically, tactically, mentally and socially.”

England start their tournament against Romania on Thursday and also face Luxembourg and Finland in the opening round. They will need to finish in the top two of the group in order to progress to the classification games for 1st to 8th place.

“We have spent a significant amount of time preparing for and researching about each Romania, Luxembourg and Finland,” continued Burton. “We expect each team to be dangerous this year and we will be approaching each game with caution. We anticipate that our group will be very competitive.

“Ultimately at this level, getting our team to believe in our own product of basketball and committing to competing on a consistent level each game will be a determinate of our success. We will take each game and each day as it comes and we will not look too far ahead of time.”

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