April 26 - British women's head coach Tom Maher has selected a strong roster for his debut campaign leading the senior team as they look to qualify for the Eurobasket Championship which will be held in Poland in 2011, it was announced today.



Maher, who has an impressive coaching pedigree at club and international level, leading Australia, New Zealand and China to Olympic Games, including a silver and bronze for Australia in 2000 and 1996 respectively and a fourth place finish for China in Beijing in 2008.

The roster includes a mixture of experience and emerging talent ahead of what will be a tough campaign where they will play Slovak Republic, Germany and Ukraine home and away.

Experienced campaigners like Rosalee Mason (pictured), Meagan Hoffman, Stephanie Collins and Kim Butler will be joined by such players as Johannah Leedham, who was picked 27th in round three of the Women's National Basketball Association (NBA) draft, and Scottish-born Rose Anderson.

"I have now been in the position long enough to enable me to assess the roster and work out what I needed to bring in for the forthcoming campaign", said Maher.

"I think the balance we have between experience and emerging talent should provide us with the correct mix for what will be a challenging summer programme.
 
"It is disappointing we have recently lost Yemi [Oyefuwa] to injury as she would have made the roster this season, however we wish her well for a speedy recovery."

In preparation of the campaign, camp will commence on June 4 at a training base in Stirling before a number test games, two of which will be at Surrey University, and away fixtures in Belgium, Holland and Israel.

All the test fixtures will supersede the competitive Eurobasket schedule which gets underway on August 14 at home to Slovakia.

"We have brought the roster in earlier than usual so we can get as much time together before the games get underway," said Maher.

"This is an important summer for the team, so we need to be 100 per cent prepared for what is going to be an intensive summer of basketball."

It was announced last week that for the first time, the British men's and women's team will stage two double headers in Birmingham and Liverpool on the August 14 and 26.

The other women's game will be hosted at the new basketball venue at Surrey University.


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