GB U20 Women Guarantee Top 8 Finish with Israel Victory

By Sam Neter on July 12, 2016

Great Britain produced a scintillating performance to get rolling at the FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship Division B 2016 in Podgorica as they stormed their way to an eye-catching 77-50 success against Israel.

The players bounced back from their opening day loss to Lithuania in fine style with a superb effort, as they not only recorded a win in the Montenegrin capital, but also guaranteed themselves a top eight finish at the event.

It was Georgia Gayle of Westfield Health Sheffield Hatters who set the tone after she scored half of GB’s early points to help them into a 26-13 advantage.

While Israel hit back to reduce the arrears and make it a one-shot game at the interval, GB caught fire coming out of the locker rooms and put Israel to the sword with a brilliant 22-5 quarter.

With great defence from the entire team, Kennedy Leonard erupted at the other end of the floor as GB effectively put the game to bed early and ensured it was a relatively comfortable last quarter.

Leonard finished with a team-high 25 points, while Gayle added 19. There was also a nice double-double of 11 points and a stellar 16 rebounds for Barking Abbey Crusaders’ centre, Abigail Johnson.

The win will give the team confidence as they move into the next phase, which will see them play against the top teams in Podgorica. After finishing as Group C runners-up behind unbeaten Lithuania, they move to Group F after tomorrow’s rest day and that means their next fixtures will be:

Wednesday 13 July at 7.15pm v Slovenia (Group D winners)

Thursday 14 July at 7.15pm v Ireland or Montenegro (Group D runners-up)

For the full game statistics v Israel click HERE.

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