GB Standard Life women's forward Julie Page couldn't hide her dismay after her side including Jenaya Wade-Fray lost their opening EuroBasket qualifier at the NIA yesterday.
A poor end to the game saw GB go down 76-67 against Slovak Republic, leaving the 27-year-old Page clearly upset:
"I'm disappointed that we lost" she said. "I thought we rushed a couple of things and stopped playing as a team a little bit. We tried to hit home runs which was a common phrase in locker room after the game.
"We need to relax a bit, let the plays come to us rather than trying to force it. We wanted to win so much that we tried too hard at times. I don't think it was anxiety, we just wanted to win the game."
Page's team-mate Wade-Fray agreed with her: "It was a big disappointment, but we have to move on. We have practice on Sunday then we get on a plane to Germany."
GB coach Tom Maher took some positives from the game, but acknowledged that his side needs to play better for the whole game.
"We definitely showed we were competitive, but we had one really bad part where we basically fell apart. We just didn't play in that spell, and that was the killer. We got a lot of foul shots, but we didn't make enough from the floor.
"Our defensive transition wasn't good enough at times. if you miss the shot you have to run back and play defense, not worry about the shot. At times we were just taking too many hasty shots."
"I think Azania Stewart was close to our best player, we got pushed around inside a bit and she came in and competed on the boards."
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