Great Britain’s women’s basketball head coach Damian Jennings admitted he was more than encouraged by his team’s performance in their two EuroBasket warm-up games against Belarus.
Six of the Team GB London 2012 Olympic squad, plus a handful of international debutantes, turned out in Lithuania for Britain’s first warm-up games ahead of next month’s EuroBasket.
Belarus emerged victorious on both occasions – 48-43 first time out and then 64-50 in their second encounter – however Jennings was buoyed by what he saw out on the court.
Britain qualify automatically for the EuroBasket in France courtesy of hosting the 2012 Olympic tournament last summer and face the hosts as well as Serbia and Latvia in the group stages.
And Jennings said: “The scoreboard does not quite paint the true picture of progress made after our five days of training together.
“I managed to see 14 players contribute over both games, and there really is a wonderful togetherness to this group which I have no doubt, as we put more detail on the floor, will help us stay in the moment against adversity and tough situations.
“Given Belarus had their defensive schemes in place and plenty of offense ready to go, I was very pleased with how our team faired with only one offense and the basic defensive philosophy to go into early battle with.
“There are some very promising signs.”
© Sportsbeat 2013