Germany clinch victory in the first British Basketball invitational tournament game
GERMANY CLINCH VICTORY IN THE FIRST BRITISH BASKETBALL INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT GAME
A strong second half saw Germany open the British Basketball Invitational Tournament with a 70-60 victory against the hosts, the Standard Life GB women, this afternoon.
Tom Maher’s team were led by Standard Life GB player, Lauren Thomas-Johnson who finished with 12 points and three rebounds, while team mate Steph Gandy added 11 points and four boards, and Kim Butler had 10 rebounds to go with her seven points.
Anne Breitreiner was unstoppable for the Germans with 23 points, including three baskets from the arc, with Sarah Austmann adding 10 points and five boards.
Standard Life GB head coach, Maher wasn’t too disappointed with the result: “We were beaten by the better team but there’s a point to these games, it’s about seeing who we are and what we need to do better. We want to win, but today wasn’t the marker of whether we’ll be a successful team.
“Defensively we were poor and not to the level we need, but we are technically better than when we started last year which is a positive. We missed Jo Leedham, and although it’s disappointing we have to move on. You make mistakes, and if you can move on from them, you’re a winner.”
Standard Life GB guard Natalie Stafford is also looking for an improvement from the team: “I thought we were okay in parts, but obviously it wasn’t our best game. We came out strong, then we did a few things wrong and struggled to get back in the game.
“The first eight points of the game were scored off our transition, but we couldn’t keep that going. We were better than our first game last year and we know we can do better than that.”
The GB women won the tip and Standard Life GB player, Julie Page gave them the edge and back-to-back Natalie Stafford baskets gave the home side a 6-4 lead after three and a half minutes.
The game remained tight, with Austmann giving Germany a 13-12 lead with a lay-up off a turnover, forcing a Maher timeout with 2:26 on the clock.
The move worked and Azania Stewart and Rachel Vanderwal both scored to put GB up by three. A pair of Steph Gandy free-throws sent GB into the first break leading 18-15.
Petra Glaser cut that lead to one with the opening score of the second period, only for Standard Life GB player Lauren Thomas-Johnson to reply with a pair from the line. Thomas-Johnson continued to trouble the visiting defence as Britain opened a four point lead after three second quarter minutes before she was replaced by Stafford.
Lisa Koop tied things at 31 with under four minutes of the half remaining, and an Anne Breitreiner trey put Germany 34-31 up as Britain struggled with turnovers. Romy Bar sent Germany into the locker room with a narrow 36-35 lead.
Austmann made it a three point German lead with the opening score of the second half before Breitreiner put the visitors up by five and then Stafford got GB off the mark.
However, a poor end to the period from the home side saw Germany score twice to go into the final break leading 54-45.
Standard Life GB player, Julie Page kept that deficit at nine with a pair at the line to open GB’s tally for the final stanza but Dorothia Richter made it 60-47. Despite a Gandy free-throw and a Stewart basket, Austmann took the lead out to 66-52 with four and a half minutes left to force a GB timeout.
Maher used his final time-out two minutes later with GB still trailing by 12, and Stafford made it a nine point deficit when she hit a pair at the line with 1:14 on the clock but that was as good as it got as GB’s warm-up for EuroBasket ended in disappointment.
Britain edged the battle of the boards 40-39, but their 27 turnovers to Germany’s 20 proved crucial.
The next game in the British Basketball Invitational Tournament will see Latvia face Cuba with an 20:00 tip off at Surrey Sports Park tonight.
