Holland subdue England

The temperature in the hall was already hot enough without the few extra degrees added by the vocal Dutch and English supporters. The match itself was not a classic but was rich in emotion and passion as both the players on the field tried to outfox one another while on the sideline both coaches had their own psychological batter.

Despite all the events off the court the turning point in the match came when Rosanne Guijt returned to the court and finished off a move by hitting her 4th 3-pointer jump shot of the evening to bring her side to within 3 points of England. Holland was now on a run and eventually tied the game (50-50). England, now on the back foot, failed in their attempt to find an opening on the perimeter forcing them to try and work inside the paint. This was not an easy task considering the atmospheric conditions in the hall with a slippery ball. The players also left themselves open to fast breaks, one of which Holland executed to perfection to take the lead for good and hold on to win the match (55-53) to top the group.

For England the match started well with a 6:0 opening start but Holland came back into the match with a 8:0 run and the tone was set for the rest of the match which was fast, furious and physical. Kristi Sheils (England) brought the first period to an exciting finishing with an interception in her own half and then a quick dash up the court to finish up with a jump shot right on the buzzer to tie the game at (10:10).

The second period remained tight as neither side was able to make the break and England went in the lead by 2 points at the interval. Mid-way through the second period it appeared that England had made the break as they opened up a 12- point lead that crept up to 15 points at one time. Yvonne Lansink kept on turning her bench and came in to the final period only trailing by 10. The rest of the event is already known. The statistics do not tell the whole story of the match but England were unable to take advantage of their visits to the free throw line as they managed 7-of-19 to Holland’s 6-of-10.

Yvonne Lansink comments after the match: “I thought the referees were a bit one-sided at the beginning and told the girls at the break to step up and stay more physical and see what the refs would do, they did this and the calls evened out. We played as a team and I can play with 12 players and that is a big advantage. And it does not matter who is standing up, it is such a great team, we have won our 3 games and that is such a great achievement for Holland.

Rosanne Guijt spoke about her match and playing against England: “Normally I do not shoot very much, but today everything I shot just went in. It was incredible. I like to play against England, I want to fight with them. Last year we lost and I was the Dutch MVP for the match but today I wanted revenge.

England’s head coach, Karen Burton said that: “They have nothing to be ashamed of, the girls played very well, just a few things we need to iron out, we are still going to go through but we have made things a little harder for ourselves.”

Full statistics are available here

Picture: Fiba Europe