Basketball: Mollie Campbell part of GB Women squad announced for Poland and Belarus EuroBasket Women qualifiers

Photo: Mark Ferriss

Mollie Campbell

Whitworth’s silver Commonwealth medallist Mollie Campbell has been named as part of the provisional 14-player squad for the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2021 qualifiers against Poland and Belarus.

The team travel to the Polish city of Walbrzych for the opening fixture of the competition on Thursday 14 November.

They then host Belarus at the National Basketball Performance Centre in Manchester on Sunday 17 November (5pm).

GB go into the three-team group on a high after the record fourth-place finish at Women’s EuroBasket 2019 in Latvia and Serbia with all the players who featured returning.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/4/sport-news/128958/basketball-great-britain-make-history-by-finishing-fourth-in-eurobasket-tournament

Great Britain Women’s coach Chema Buceta expects to maintain those high standards, saying: “We face the challenge of a new European campaign with humility and focus on things that we can do, fighting wisely game by game, trusting and supporting each other all the way.

“This was our strategy to be able to compete at a high level in the last EuroBasket, and this has to be again our main weapon.

“Both Poland and Belarus are countries with strong tradition in international women basketball, and we will have to play very good defense and wise offense to be able to beat them.

“This is only the beginning of a new campaign, but we want to start strong to be in a good position to qualify for next EuroBasket.”

Mollie, the youngest player of England's basketball squad that won a silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, hopes to take part in the upcoming 2020 Olympic Games.

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/4/sport-news/118003/basketball-whitworth-student-helps-england-women-win-silver-at-the-commonwealth-games

Her basketball career began at the age of 12, when she followed in her brother’s footsteps and took up the sport, playing for Manchester Mystics.