GB women jump up World Rankings by seeing off Japan
After the disappointment of yesterday there was a reason for celebration for the Great Britain women‘s team as they progressed to the 5/6th playoff game against The Netherlands after seeing off Japan 46 – 31.
It was a close game and the nerves seemed to be getting to both teams at the beginning as they both missed a number of chances early on reflecting in the result at the end of the first quarter just one point in it 9 -8 to Japan.
The second quarter continued in the same vain and although Japan got into foul trouble for the second time in the game GB could not take advantage failing to convert their free throws and Japan edged further ahead taking a three point lead 18 -15 into the half time break.
To begin the third quarter GB Head Coach, Garry Peel, used his bench to great effect bringing on Caroline Matthews who added an extra four points straight away. Three unanswered baskets from Great Britain meant for the first time in the match Great Britain pulled away from the Japanese and started to play with more confidence; however Japan did not give in and clawed themselves back into the game to a deficit of one point.
It was Japan who came out with more urgency at the beginning of the fourth quarter to take the lead. But a three point play from Helen Freeman gave them the boost they needed and GB again scored another 6 unanswered points. Japan then struggled to contain GB and again got into team foul trouble, Louise Sugden converting one from the free throw line to give GB an advantage to 10 points. Clare Strange finished off an outstanding performance with a 3 pointer to finish the game the leading points scorer.
The final score finished 46 – 31 to Great Britain.
One of Great Britain’s influential players, Helen Freeman said, “It feels really good to finally have broken our 8th place position and getting into the 5th/6th match is a reward for all our hard work. We are definitely in with a chance against the Dutch tomorrow as we only lost to them by one point so we will look to push them all the way. The results from the tournament have shown we can play and hold our own against the best teams in the world and we can keep working we can build upon this for London 2012.”
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