History-making Great Britain will compete for the bronze medal and a first-ever podium finish on the last day of the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2019 in Belgrade.
Having already scooped a place in the 2020 Olympic Qualifying Tournaments, Chema Buceta and his team enjoyed a great performance against powerhouse France on their Semi-Finals debut. But, they just fell short 63-56 as France made it four Finals in a row.
Rachael Vanderwal and Chantelle Handy impressed with 12 and 11 points respectively and Great Britain will now play either Serbia or Spain in the Third Place Game.
“I am proud of our first-half and actually, for the whole game,” stated Karlie Samuelson afterwards.
“They got a lot of offensive boards in the second-half and that takes its toll when you have to play defense. They just pulled it out at the end but it was a good game and I really love playing for this team.”
Head coach Chema Buceta added: “We played the Semi-Final and this is the big news. We came here to this tournament to do something and we are doing something.
“It was difficult to play against them as they are a tall team. It was difficult for us to attack. But France is France and GB is GB. How is it possible we can even play this kind of game against France? This is the question.
“We played against a very good team who could be the champion tomorrow. Congratulations to them and we will be ready for the Bronze Medal game,” concluded the play-caller.
The Third Place Game will take place at 4.30pm on Sunday.