Great Britain’s U20 Women did not start their battle to remain in Division A on a positive note after losing to Latvia on Monday 77-56 in the European Championship.

 

GB coach Frans Griffioen has had a string of bad luck with player illness and injury (key guards Renee Busch and Lana Doran missed Monday’s action) and the roster weakness showed against Latvia as they were down 15-1 three and a half minutes into the game.

 

Britain were never able to get back into the game and two minutes into the third period Latvia were up by 20 (44-24) and sailed the rest of the way.

 

Despite the loss, GB were dominant on the boards, out-rebounding Latvia 53-32 thanks largely to some great hustle from Cheridene Green (14 rebounds), Jessica Hurd (13 rebounds) and Erin McGarrachan (11 rebounds). Francesca Whitby led all British scorers with 14 points including a perfect 8 of 8 shooting from the free throw line.

 

The U20 Women now have five more games in six days as they look to clinch the one spot in their classification group that will stay safe in Division A for 2013.

 

Photo: FIBA Europe / Viktor Rebay