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Scots Marie Buchan (formerly Falkirk Fury) and Becca Allison (formerly Edinburgh Kool Kats), who are also teammates at Old Dominion University in Virginia, played a huge part in the Euro B title triumph of Welsh coach Damian Jennings’s Great Britain women’s under-20 side in Kavadarci, Macedonia.

Having clinched promotion to Euro A by reaching the final with a superb 59-40 win over Portugal, they went on to capture the Euro B title for the first time, beating the undoubted favourites Slovakia 47-46 in a nervy finish after being 25-14 up at half-time.

Buchan top-scored against the Slovaks with 13 points, and finished the tournament averaging over 10 points a game to be GB’s top scorer as well as averaging 7.7 rebounds per game and 1.6 assists.

It was a mature performance which suggests the Denny High FP could soon be pushing for a place in a GB senior squad currently not overloaded with big players.

Allison, like GB senior team member Rose Anderson a Portobello High School FP, led the rebounds with nine in a long, crucial stint in the final.

A feature of the tournament was the increasing minutes and growing confidence in their Great Britain team role of the two Scots, with Allison still eligible for this age group next year as is another Kool Kat Kathryn Taylor, who made it all the way to the last 14 only to be cut before the tournament.

Allison, who red-shirted last season for Old Dominion, had 26 minutes on court in the 59-40 semi-final win over Portugal, scoring eight points, taking five rebounds, giving four assists and having three steals in arguably her finest ever game.

Follow Scottish players as they represent Great Britain this summer.

Senior Men – Kieron Achara

Kieron Achara

In game 1 away to Hungary Kieron played 3 minutes and will be hoping for more court-time in the next game versus Macedonia on Sunday 8 August in Newcastle.

Kieron Achara has been selected for the final 12 man team for the Eurobasket qualifiers.

Under 20 Women – Mairi Buchan #12

Mairi Buchan

In the final victory Mairi scored 13 points (5/15 shots), along with 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.

The semi-final win over Portugal saw Mairi play 30 minutes and score 10 points (4/11 shots) and grab 8 rebounds.

Mairi shot the ball well in the game versus Israel as she scored 10 points (4/6 shots, 2/3 free throws), to go with 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 12 steal.

After four games, Mairi Buchan is leading the team in points (10.5), rebounds (8.3) and assists (1.75) per game.

In a tough loss to Czech Republic, had 12 points (4/10 shots, 4/4 free throws), 6 rebounds and an assist.

Played a time high 31 minutes in dramatic 70-69 win over F.Y.R. of Macedonia with 17 points (4/15 shots, 6/7 free throws), to go with 12 rebounds and 2 assists.

Strong effort on the boards versus Hungry with 8 rebounds, alongside a difficult shooting night with 5 points (1/7 shots) in 26 minutes.

Opened the tournament against Belgium with 8 points (3/9 shots), 7 rebounds, 4 assists and a steal in 19 minutes.

See Mairi’s stats on the tournament website.

Under 20 Women – Rebecca Allison #9

Rebecca Allison

Rebecca stepped up in the final against Slovak Republic to play a tournament-high 28 minutes and provided 7 points (3/7 shots), 9 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 steals and 1 block.

In the semi-final versus Portugal, Rebecca scored 8 shots (1/7 shots, 6/8 free throws) to go with 2 rebounds, 1 assist, 1 steals and 1 block.

Rebecca’s minutes continue to climb as she plays 26 minutes versus Israel and responds with 8 points (3/7 shots), 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals.

Best game of the tournament so far for Rebecca versus Czech Republic 9 points (3/6 shots), 6 steals, and 4 rebounds to go with a rebound and an assist.

Role expanded in game 3 versus F.Y.R. of Macedonia to 25 minutes and responded with 8 points (3/4 shots), 2 steals and a rebound.

Opened the tournament with 17 minutes against Belgium and 12 minutes against Hungry .

See Rebecca’s stats on the tournament website.

Under 20 Men – Alistair McKay #9

In 15 minutes versus Portugal, Alistair contributed 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 steals and 1 block then finished the tournament with 6 minutes in the classification game versus Israel.

Played 5 minutes in the impressive win over Poland, then 10 minutes versus Slovak Republic.

Contributed 8 points (3/3 shots, 2/2 free throws) in 12 minutes against Norway to go with 3 rebounds, 2 assists and a steal.

Played 14 minutes in a tough loss to Austria and 3 minutes in the following game against Belgium.

Played 20 minutes in opening game v Denmark and contributed 6 points (3/4 shots), 5 rebounds, along with an assist, steal and block.

See Alistair’s stats on the tournament website.

Scotland’s national squads have kicked off perhaps the biggest summer of international basketball in memory.

Six Scotland teams are competing at European Championships in Armenia, Malta, Romania, Israel and Andorra.

These tournaments represent significant steps towards basketballscotland’s performance vision of competing at Division B level, including both under 18 teams competing in Division B and both senior squads playing preparation games again Division B standard opposition.

The preparation phase has been highlighted by the first ever GB Home Nations Joint Camp between Scotland, Great Britain, England and Wales attended by Scotland’s under 18 Women, under 18 Men and under 16 Men.

The selection of ten Scottish players to Great Britain squads adds to the team successes and adds weight to the second element of basketballscotland’s performance vision, namely Scottish representation at the highest international level possible.

National Squad activity is made possible by the volunteer commitment of coaches and managers. Together, they will contribute approximately 3,500 hours of their time to the national squads this summer. All the training, camps, tournaments and off-court preparation add up to an invaluable contribution to the game of basketball in Scotland.

The national squads are centred on the development of the 135 players selected across the nine squads. In order to represent their country these players and many parents make difficult choices and great contributions of time, energy and finance.

National Squad facts and figures for summer 2010:

• First time Scotland has had two youth teams competing in Division B in the same year
• First time Scotland has had six teams in the European Championships in the same year (involving 19,800 miles of air travel)
• Ten Scots chosen to Great Britain squads, including eight Scottish-born players and two naturalised or second generation Scots.
• 28 trips and hosted events
• 140 training sessions
• 410 hours of training
• 75 players registered with FIBA Europe
• Approximately 3,500 hours of volunteer time!

2010 International Schedule:

Senior Women

International friendly games v Austria, Linlithgow, 18-20 June

European Championships, Division C, Armenia, 25 June – 4 July

Trudie Hopgood – Head Coach

Tony Shand – Assistant Coach

Elif Yilmaz – Manager

Senior Men

International friendly games v Norway, Stirling, 24-25 April

Preparation games v Newcastle Eagles, Danum Eagles Newcastle, Everton Tigers, May-June

International friendly games v England, Worchester, 26-27 June

European Championships, Division C, Malta 3-11^th July

Tom Campbell – Head Coach

Robert Taft – Assistant Coach

Euan Campbell – Assistant Coach

Under 23 Men

International friendly games v Great Britain U20’s, Manchester, 5-6 June

Ben O’Connell - Head Coach

Adrian Flynn - Assistant Coach

Colin Lynch - Manager

Under 18 Women

Preparation camp, Highland, 18-20 June

Joint camp with Great Britain, England, Wales, Bristol, 25-27 June

European Championships, Division B, Timisoara 27 July -9 August

Donna Finnie – Head Coach

Jennifer Gallacher – Assistant Coach

Kara Gillies – Assistant Coach
Lorraine McAuley – Manager

Under 18 Men

Preparation games, Barcelona 10-13 June

Joint camp with Great Britain, England, Wales, Bristol, 18-20 June

International friendly games v Ireland, Wales U20, East Lothian, 25-27 June

European Championships, Division B, Tel Aviv, 20 July – 2 August

Doug Reilly - Head Coach

Alan Lamb – Assistant Coach

Jim Wright – Assistant Coach

Amelia Morgan – Manager

Under 16 Women

Preparation games, Leeds, 2-4 April

Preparation games, Barcelona 17-20 June

Preparation camp, Inverclyde, 9-11 June

European Championships, Division C, Andorra 23 July -1 August

Ian Gordon – Head Coach

Lorna Norman – Assistant Coach

Marianne Hayward – Manager

Under 16 Men

Copenhagen Invitational Tournament, Copenhagen 11-13 June

Joint camp with Great Britain, England, Wales, Bristol, 18-20 June

Preparation games, Manchester 9-10 July

European Championships, Division C, Andorra 24 July – 1 August

Colin Haldane – Head Coach

Russel Kesson – Assistant Coach

Trudie Hopgood – Assistant Coach

Neil Connell – Manager

Under 15 Girls

England U15 Inter-Regional Tournament, Sheffield 12-13 June

Friendly games, Belfast, 25-27 June

Darryl Wood – Head Coach

Roddy Gordon – Assistant Coach

Joanne Holmes – Manager

Under 15 Boys

England U15 Inter-Regional Tournament, Nottingham 5-6 June

Copenhagen Invitational Tournament, 11-13 June

Russel Kesson - Head Coach

Craig Nicol - Assistant Coach

Alan MacDonald - Manager