RUSSIANS TOO HOT TO HANDLE
Great Britain were pummelled by Russia 71-40 in their EuroBasket Women 2015 opener.
And although the 2011 champions were a class above on Friday in Szombathely, GB were left to rue an eye injury to centre Temi Fagbenle in the first quarter that saw the centre taken to hospital.
The blow, sustained in a loose ball scramble, came in the middle of two 10-0 runs from the Russians in quick succession that took them 38-15 in front before the Group C outsiders closed the opening half with seven straight points to cut the deficit to 38-22.
But Russia’s size, and the consistency of their defensive pressure, proved too hot to handle and their cushion was easily increased despite the admirably gritty efforts of Peter Buckle’s side – led by 10 points from Azania Stewart.
Russia, whose advantage peaked at 69-38 late in the fourth, were paced by 13 points and eight rebounds from 16-year-old wunderkind Maria Vadeeva.
And with GB shooting just 14/48 from the field, even a composed showing from Stef Collins and precious help off the bench from Dom Allen could only limit the damage.
“They shot the ball very well and made shots under pressure, so credit to them,” said Buckle. “We actually had a lot of good open looks, but we didn’t finish enough of them off.
“It is hard to combat the size of Russia and you really don’t want to lose someone the size of Temi in any game, but especially not against a team who are so big under the basket.
“There were still some real positives in that I thought we got better and we have got some rustiness out of our system.
“Now we have this first game under our belts, we can move on quickly to Latvia and we know they will come out tough after losing in a tight one against Croatia.â€
Next up on Saturday afternoon for Buckle’s side is Latvia, who are also winless after losing 67-63 to Croatia.
Do you like our work?
We have a tiny favour to ask. In 2018 we set out to make Hoopsfix sustainable by building our relationship directly with our readers. Up until now, Hoopsfix has been creating editorials, videos and podcasts to provide sorely missing coverage of the British game and its distinct culture and community.
We have funded Hoopsfix with our freelance work creating basketball media, but sadly that means not only does it fall behind our client’s priorities, but some of those clients are the same organisations we need to report objectively on putting us in a conflicted position.
We want to devote more time to our mission of helping British basketball reach its potential, and produce even more content for the basketball community by making Hoopsfix a sustainable 100% independent business funded directly by our readers through Patreon.
If everyone who enjoys our content chose to support us, our future would be much more secure. For as little as $3 per month, you can support Hoopsfix – and it only takes a minute.
We are tremendously honoured and humbled to have a community of people who value what we do, and we look forward to being at the forefront of the British game as it continues to evolve.
0 comments