GB Basketball’s women claim first win of 2013 against Israel
Great Britain’s ladies got off to winning ways at Surrey Sports Park under new head coach Damian Jennings, as they secured a 73-64 victory over Israel.
Stef Collins and Rachael Vanderwal were on hand with 12 points apiece on the way to GB’s first win of the year, and Jennings will be hoping his charges will carry on the momentum across the Bank Holiday weekend invitational tournament.
The game began with Great Britain’s defence holding firm to keep the visitors to just two points for nearly seven minutes, but Israel closed the gap to end the quarter just short at 15-10.
Liron Cohen was the talismanic figure in proceedings early on for the Israelis, helping them get back on levels terms, but homegrown Ella Clark did the business ahead of half-time, bagging four of the last five points for the home side and regained the five point lead at 33-28.
Coming out of the locker rooms in fine fettle, Vanderwal claimed nine points of her 12 in the third quarter, on the way to a game high lead of 13 points (54-41). Israel did however cut the gap down to end the period 56-48.
That shot in the arm late in the third was the glimmer of hope Israel took advantage of and after a 12-3 run edged the lead, but Jennings’ side dug deep and took total control with a valuable 14-4 run of their own to grab their first win of 2013.
Jennings spoke after the game, highlighting that it was more than just a win for his team: “I thought we made some great growth defensively and that was one of the detail areas we wanted to look at. It wasn’t just about the win in fairness; that was a good bonus.
“I think we did a good job tonight in the way we set up our defence; you saw that, particularly in the last three minutes, we were able to create possession for ourselves from that.”
Joint top scorer Stef Collins feels now there is more to come on the road ahead to EuroBasket later in the summer: “It was a good start for us, this being only our third preparation match, so heading into EuroBasket it was a good test for us as Israel is such a high calibre team in Europe. With what we put on the floor, both defensively and offensively, we are starting to flow and get a nice chemistry together and that is something we can build upon.”
Great Britain will now take on Germany later this Sunday afternoon, with the Germans losing their opening game against Greece in this British Basketball Invitational Tournament 2013 presented by Standard Life, and it marks Great Britain’s 100th game together.
To celebrate this, GB Basketball are streaming this game LIVE online at www.gbbasketball.com, where tip-off is expected at 5:00pm.
