Scots help GB basketball teams to a double triumph

By SANDY SUTHERLAND
Published on 16/07/2012 12:19

The two GB basketball teams preparing for London enjoyed a double triumph in the Standard Life 2012 tournament in 
Sheffield at the weekend.

The Team GB women came from ten points behind in the first half to defeat France 74-67 and finish second to Australia in the four-team tournament, while the GB men defeated Portugal for the second day in a row, this time 86-66.

Jo Leedham with 23 and 
Natalie Stafford with 18 (11 in the last quarter) led the scoring for the women, with Edinburgh’s Rose Anderson taking three rebounds in two short spells to add to the six points she scored against the powerful Australians who, when the 
Olympic tournament gets 
underway on July 27 will be 
favourites to reach the final from the GB group.

Commenting on the French win, a delighted GB coach Tom Maher said: “We needed to bring our best game and we did.”

Stirling’s Kieron 
Achara, pictured, scored eight points including two three-pointers in an 
excellent 16 minutes for GB men while Robert Archibald (Dunfermline) had 18 minutes but only scored one point.

After winning their first three games to guarantee progression to the knockout stages, GB Under-20s could afford to rest senior squad “reject” Devon Van Oostrum for their final Eurobasket division B group game in Bulgaria against Belarus yesterday which they lost 69-61.

Falkirk’s Ali Fraser added 16 points and eight rebounds to the 17 points he scored in GB’s 71-60 victory over Denmark on Saturday.

Today is a rest day for the GB squad who hopefully will have Edinburgh Kings guard Lee Reilly back in action this week.

Without US College star, Falkirk’s Mairi Buchan, Scotland lost 72-52 to Malta to finish fourth in the European Championship for Small Countries in Macedonia last night.

It was a disappointing finish to the tournament especially as Austria, whom Scotland beat in a warm-up game, upset hosts Macedonia 68-63 to take the gold medals. Deanne Hayward, Scotland’s overall best player and Rona Corkindale both scored 12 points, Gillian Baird nine and Siobhan Moore eight.