Great Britain: Buceta confirms training camp roster for Women’s EuroBasket

Head coach Chema Buceta has confirmed his 15-player Great Britain roster for training camp this week in Manchester in preparation for the Women’s EuroBasket 2023 campaign in Slovenia next month.

Great Britain will head to Slovenia in mid-June to compete in Women’s EuroBasket and have been drawn in an exciting group alongside France, Germany and the co-hosting Slovenians where the four teams will compete for a place in the knockout stages of the tournament.

Coach Buceta’s training camp roster comprises several ever-presents who fans will recognise from the team’s successful qualification campaign, as well as a cohort of new faces who will be competing to earn their first senior caps for Great Britain in the coming weeks. 

A quartet of talent with WNBA experience is included in the training camp roster, including Kristine Anigwe, Temi Fagbenle, Kiki Herbert-Harrigan and Sydney Wallace – the latter duo are taking part in their first-ever senior camps for Great Britain.

British Basketball fans will already be well-versed in the talents of Herbert-Harrigan having witnessed her MVP-winning season in the Women’s British Basketball League for London Lions during the recent campaign, not to mention some dazzling performances in European competition for the Copper Box club.

Wallace sampled the WNBA with Minnesota Lynx and Conneticut Sun in recent years and has accrued a very impressive resume after many starring performances in the EuroLeague. The 29-year-old is an elite-level floor general and an exciting addition to the roster.

The inclusions of young talents Gabby Nikitinaite, Ire Ozzy-Momodu and Savannah Wilkinson will excite fans greatly, as the trio have already earned plenty of headlines with numerous stellar performances in their young careers.

Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby, Erin McGarrachan, Robyn Lewis and Nicolette Fairley join the training camp roster after standout seasons for their clubs in the UK this past campaign. Kirsty Brown, Shequila Joseph, Hannah Robb and Holly Winterburn continue their run of consecutive call-ups for the National Team after strong showings both domestically and internationally in the last 12 months.

Great Britain Women’s Head Coach Chema Buceta said:

“Playing at EuroBasket means we are now among the 16 top teams in Europe, which was hard to achieve, and now a big challenge will be to compete at a high level in order to achieve a good, ambitious result. 

“Since our last participation in 2019, the squad has changed a lot, with only one player this time from that very successful team. Nevertheless, despite the remarkable absences of players who have done a lot and retired, and the injuries of Cheridene Green and Georgia Gayle, we have made a competitive team with highly committed and talented players that I fully trust.

“Our first challenge will be to build the team in a short period of time with high-quality work, and then to grow step-by-step, game-by-game. Again, ambition and team mentality will be key to us succeeding. 

“I feel very optimistic and I’m looking forward to being on camp and seeing how the players improve day by day. We are very grateful for all the support we have had from everybody – the National Team is a team for all of British Basketball. Positive glasses!”

In addition to announcing the training camp roster, who will come together in Manchester later this week to begin their preparations for a busy summer, the Federation can confirm that the Women’s team will play four preparatory friendlies ahead of EuroBasket. 

GB are slated to face off against the Czech Republic in a double-header of fixtures in Prague on June 1 and 2, before returning to Manchester and preparing to face France in Lyon for two further friendlies on June 9 and 10.

Attention will then turn to EuroBasket, where GB will face Slovenia, France and Germany in Ljubljana on June 15, 16 and 18 respectively, competing for a place in the knockout stages of the competition. Information on where to watch Coach Buceta’s side in action this summer will be shared in due course.

Great Britain Training Camp Roster – Women’s EuroBasket 2023

NAME	POSITION	AGE	HEIGHT	CLUB (2022/23)
Kristine Anigwe	Forward	26	6’4”	Chicago Sky (USA)
Kirsty Brown	Centre	23	6’3”	Leicester Riders (GBR)
Temi Fagbenle	Forward	30	6’4”	ZVVZ USK Praha (CZE)
Nicolette Fairley	Guard	31	5’4”	Sheffield Hatters (GBR)
Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan	Forward	24	6’2”	London Lions (GBR)
Shequila Joseph	Forward	28	6’1”	London Lions (GBR)
Robyn Lewis	Guard	28	5’4”	Caledonia Gladiators (GBR)
Erin McGarrachan	Forward	31	6’0”	Caledonia Gladiators (GBR)
Gabby Nikitinaite	Guard	24	5’11”	Fribourg (SWI)
Harriet Ottewill-Soulsby	Forward	27	6’3”	Durham Palatinates (GBR)
Irekpitan Ozzy-Momodu	Center	24	6’2”	Eastern Michigan University (USA)
Hannah Robb	Guard	25	5’7”	Leicester Riders (GBR)
Sydney Wallace	Guard	29	5’8”	Atomeromu (HUN)
Savannah Wilkinson	Forward	24	6’1”	Southern Methodist University (USA)
Holly Winterburn	Guard	22	5’10”	London Lions (GBR)

Coaching Staff:

Chema Buceta – Head Coach
Stef Collins – Assistant Coach
Vanessa Ellis – Assistant Coach

Performance Staff:

Mark Lloyd – National Teams Manager / Head of Delegation
Peter Thain – Physiotherapist
Ross Knevett – Sports Therapist
Karen Barclay – Team Doctor
Jamie Thomas – Media Officer

Main image credit - Jamie Thomas

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