IMPRESSIVE ISRAEL DEFEAT GREAT BRITAIN
WOMEN IN EUROBASKET A

Great Britain Women suffered another home defeat this time at the hands of the well organised Israel, going down by 80 points to 100.

GB Women had made a wonderful start to this game to lead 30 - 27 at the end of the first. But in the opening action the Brits had led by as many as 11. The starters all did their job for Head Coach Mark Clark with Lisa Hutchinson and Megan Moody dishing up 3 assists a piece. Moody would end the quarter with 8 points made up of 2 threes and 2 free throws. She did not miss. Johanna Leedham added 5 including one from the arc and Georgia Jones added 4 points including a tre!

Abramzon and Dori led the scoring for the visitors with 6 and 7 points a piece.

GB Women must have been well contented as the first quarter came to a close. Perhaps the most impressive player for me was GB's Sarah McKay who had 6 points going 3 for 5 from the field. She made some awesome moves down low and to be honest the Israelis had little answer to her.

While Mark Clark and his coaching team were talking to his charges, Israel Head Coach Eli Rabi was plotting the downfall of Great Britain. He was talking about defence, and from the start of the second quarter, there would be no doubt as to how Israel were going to win this game. They were going to stop Great Britain, left, right and centre. It was that simple. GB had no answer, and the Israeli perfoemance was awesome to see. Their intensity was frightening. They would force 6 GB turnovers with every player playing their part.

Add to that the fact that they were now finding their range and you can see that it would be a long night for GB Women. At the half, GB trailed 42 - 50 and at the offensive end Meirav Dori was the star for Israel. She had taken 6 shots including 2 from the free-throw line...she had yet to miss! There was great support from Liron Cohen with 8 and 7 a piece for Karni, Doron and Abramzon.

GB were hanging in there but only just. Megan Moody had 11 with McKay on 10 on 5 for 8 shooting from the field. Again she was unstoppable on the low post. Hutchinson had dished up 5 assists. Unfortunately both Rosalee Mason and Kim Butler had 3 fouls a piece.

The third quarter was all about Israeli team basketball with everybody finding the bucket from range and taking it strong to the hole when the were on the break. They would have 5 players in double figures at the end of the third and as a team they were shooting 64% from the field, 63% from the arc and 91% from the free-throw line.

Truly it was a joy to see.

Head Coach Mark Clark tried everything to get the Israelis out of their rhythm but to put it midely GB didn't have an answer. Israeli point guard Laine Selwyn simply controlled the game. She advanced the ball, made great passes and at the end of the third she had 5 assists and 6 points. Even when she was not on the ball she was barking out instructions to the other players. She was truly the floor leader for this team.

Meirav Dori had 17 points at the end of the third assisted by 14 from Karni and 12 each for Doron and Levitsky.

And so to the fourth quarter, and despite good work from Rosalee Mason this was all about Israel who maintained their lead at around the 20 mark. This gave the opportunity to both coaches to run their benches safe in the knowledge that this result was not going to change.

The final score was 80 points to Great Britain and 100 to Israel. The visitors had 5 players in double figures led by Dori with 20 points on 5 for 8 shooting from the field, 2 for 3 from the arc and 4 for 4 from the line. Karni added 16 points. Her only miss was just 1 free-throw. Doron added 16.

The Israelis shot 64% from the field, 60% from the arc and 85% from the freethrow-line. They really were that good. The leading scorer for GB was Megan Moody with 17 and Sarah McKay with 12. No other GB player got into double figures.

This defeat for Great Britain was rather eased by the news that Germany had been handed a whupping at the hands of Lithuania going down 80 points to 44. This result keeps GB off the bottom of the table but since the top three in Group A are all looking good, GB might have to go to the second round to try and qualify for Eurobasket 2009. Only time will tell.

Great Britain's next game is at home on Saturday evening when they entertain, wait for it....Ukraine.

UN-OFFICIAL PHOTO ALBUM