One win and one loss for GB Women in double-header weekend
The Standard Life GB Women’s basketball team played admirably during a two game set against Canada in Edinburgh at the weekend. On Saturday, they made a mockery of the world rankings and defeated their much vaunted opponents by a baker’s dozen, only for the roles to be reversed the very next day.
Continuing their pre-Olympic build-up that takes in nearly 20 games, starting in late May and finishing with the toughest challenge of them all, against the USA on 18th July, it was difficult to assess whether coach Tom Maher would be satisfied with the weekend performances, but his side did show that they can live with the big guns.
Canada came into the action on Saturday ranked 11th, with their opponents ranked way down in joint 49th place. In the first game, at least, you wouldn’t have known.
Behind the play of fulcrum Jo Leedham, who plays her club basketball under Maher at the Bulleen Bombers in Australia, and guard Natalie Stafford, who top scored in both games, Great Britain came out worthy 70-57 winners.
Not that it was all plain sailing. GB went 0-for-12 from the field in a woeful second quarter display and, in truth, they were lucky to trail only by four at the half-time interval. Their free-throw shooting wasn’t exactly stellar, either. By the time the fourth quarter began, they were sitting at 10-of-20 on that particular stat, before nailing 10-of-11 in the final stanza.
It was clear from the outset that GB were going to play a tight marking defence, attempting to harass the Canadians and make them ill at ease, something that both veteran Stafford and Energa Torun forward Julie Page admitted was right out of the coaches handbook, while coach Maher himself stated that with the emphasis on defence in recent matches and training sessions, ‘we are a little bit behind offensively and that shows.’
The biggest cheer of the opening ten minutes was reserved for a coast-to-coast steal and lay-up from Edinburgh’s own Rose Anderson, the sole Scot in the side. The 24 year old played locally for the Edinburgh Kool Kats before moving to Oklahoma in 2006 and has just completed her first season with the UWIC Archers, where she plays alongside Team GB teammates Stef Collins and Jenaya Wade-Frey.
In the second quarter, the Canadian defence really stepped up, although the least said about the GB shooting exploits the better, as they managed to convert just four free throws and no field goals the entire quarter. Ex-WNBA forward Kim Smith was clearly the major threat for the Canadians, finishing with 19 points and attempting twice as many shots as any of her teammates. She was the only player in a red jersey that seemed to be able to cause problems and get the better of the GB defence in and around the paint. That said, Harvard University student Temi Fagbenle seemed to control her admirably in the 19 minutes she was on court.
The young 19 year old forward was ruled ineligible to play in the NCAA this year, so has sorely missed competitive action, but on her performances from the weekend, she will be one of the essential pieces in the GB Women’s basketball jigsaw for the foreseeable future.
With both teams preparing for the Olypmics, or in the case of Canada, Olympic Qualifying, it was understandable that both coaches would mix and match and rotate fairly frequently in an attempt to figure out what permutations work best within their roster, something Stafford admitted after the game stating that ‘both him and us are learning each game…he knows what he wants, it’s just about getting us there.’
If the second quarter was all Canada, the entire second half seemed to be almost all Great Britain as they turned a four point deficit into a convincing 13 point triumph. While the stats may suggest otherwise, Jo Leedham, who went just 4-of-14 from the floor, seemed to be behind everything and the guard play in general, with Stafford and Collins in the mix as well, controlled the ball much of the second half, while 6ft 4in Fagbenle seemed to really help defensively, putting up two massive blocks.
Great Britain ran away with the game in the fourth quarter as Canada became more and more frustrated by the aggressive, but perfectly legal, pressing defence tactics from the home side and they never got closer than the five points that separated the sides at the end of the third quarter.
While the girls were unable to repeat the feat the next day, losing 63-50 in a display that Jo Leedham described as ‘not what we’re about’ they can certainly hold their heads up high after they showed that they have the ability to cause some real upsets in the world stage, and with three time Olympic medallist Tom Maher at the helm, who’s to say what can happen?
Next up for Team GB is a four team tournament in Ankara, Turkey that will see them play this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. They open with games against Korea and Argentina, both ranked in the top 12, before finishing against the host nation. If the Edinburgh double-header has taught this team anything though, it’s that they can compete and trouble those at the top of the ladder. Now it’s merely a case of building the consistency heading into the biggest of big stages.