Argentina upset GB Women in World Cup Pre-Qualifiers
Great Britain Senior Women were upset 53-47 to Argentina in their opening game at the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda on Monday afternoon.
It was a difficult first encounter for new GB Head Coach Anna Montanana’s side, in an ugly game that saw both teams shoot 28% from the floor, as it was Argentina’s first win over a European team since 2006, versus Spain; ironically, a game that Montanana also was on the wrong side of – then a Spanish international player.
As the final buzzer sounded, Argentina head coach Gregorio Martinez praised his team for “beating an European for the first time in many, many years.”
“We ended being down by six and I think that’s a very positive situation for us given that it’s our first international game,” said Montanana afterwards.
“I think we need to adjust playing through the contact offensively and also defensively and that’s something we need to improve. It’s a bad score but good learning for us.
“There’s still a long way in the tournament, so hopefully this is the first step we can learn from and we can perform better.”
Holly Winterburn led the way with 11 points and six rebounds, with Maya Price adding 10 points on 4/6 shooting and six boards.
“This is our second game together, we are too young, we are still learning,” Winterburn said.
“We’ll take a lot from this; we’ll watch film and get better. We can only take the positives from here. They are not phenomenal three-point shooters. We just let them shoot open shots. You can’t really do much when they get open shot. We’ve to be better and stick to the scout. Credit to them for making them.”
Macarena D’urso led Argentina with 19 points, hitting five triples in that haul.
GB will look to regroup and go again on Wednesday when they face Lebanon, tipping off at 4:00 pm BST.
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