Recap: GB Under-18 Women defeat Ireland U20s in series opener

Great Britain’s Under-18 Women have begun their preparations for the upcoming European Championship this summer with a three-game series against Ireland Under-20s.

Head coach Kenrick Liburd has taken a squad of 15 players for the trip to Ireland with Violet Stutz unavailable having been included in the initial training camp squad.

Ireland are competing in Division A at the U20 Euros this summer having earned promotion with victory over GB in the bronze medal game back in 2019 – the last time the tournaments were held.

Game 1 recap (Friday) – Ireland U20s 58-64 GB U18s

Starting five: Charity, Janneh, Bunyan, Edwards and Roy.

GB opened the series with a six-point success on Friday night, at Ulster University, after coming through a hard fought battle against older opposition.

Fatmata Janneh top scored with 16 points in the win with Issy Bunyan, Olivia Forster and Grace Strickland all adding eight points apiece with nine players on the scoresheet in total.

The visitors were 6-2 behind early on before Bunyan’s and-1 sparked a 7-0 response to take the lead. Janneh scored five late points to put GB 20-14 ahead at the end of the first, but were held to just seven points in the second as they trailed 28-27 at the break.

Janneh hit GB’s first three early in the third to move into double figures with Carys Roy and Grace Strickland connecting well on more than one occasion. Olivia Forster hit back-to-back threes before Janneh added another as the lead briefly hit double digits as GB led 58-50 heading into the fourth.

GB moved 61-53 ahead with 6:33 remaining, but had almost five minutes to wait before their next points as the hosts closed in. Despite a nervy finish, Strickland’s steal and score was enough to ice an opening win for GB.

Game 2 recap (Saturday 5:30pm) – Ireland U20s v GB U18s

Game 3 recap (Sunday 2pm) – Ireland U20s v GB U18s

GB will continue their preparations at camp before travelling to Serbia the following week for more friendlies.

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