A quadrant of Caledonia Gladiators; Kirsty Brown, Erin McGarrachan, Hannah Robb, and returning-from-retirement Chantelle Handy, will represent Great Britain’s Senior Women’s team in their training camp squad before their upcoming Women’s Eurobasket 2025 Qualifiers against Sweden and Estonia on 9th and 12th November. This selection comes after McGarrachan and Robb played at last year’s EuroBasket – whilst Kirsty Brown and Chantelle Handy were in the squad during qualifiers and preparations, with the latter announcing her international retirement post-qualification.
McGarrachan, Robb and Brown are the representing Scots in Coach Chema Buceta’s squad and will be joined by a large group of Women’s British Basketball League stars, including the squad’s captain, Lions’ Temi Fagbenle.
After the conclusion of training camp, November 9’s game against Sweden will be hosted at the National Basketball Performance Centre and is set to be a thriller. GB currently sit 10th in FIBA European rankings thanks to a successful last few campaigns, whilst Sweden sits not far behind them in 15th.
After the home fixture, Buceta’s side will travel to the continent to take on Estonia on the 12th. Estonia, ranked 32nd in Europe, will look to fight the on-paper rankings and pull off an upset against the strong-look GB side.
Upon her return to GB action, Handy said: “I received a call from Chema asking for some support as unfortunately, a few players are not able to play due to injury. He knows how much this programme means to me and knows I’ll always support them in any way I can. If that means coming back in to help, that’s what I’ll do.”
Fellow Gladiator, Yevhennia Putra, also received a call-up to her senior national team squad of Ukraine and will make her first appearance after impressing in the summer’s U20 European Championships.
Tickets can be purchased now for the game in Manchester next month. Next up at home for the Gladiators following the international break is Essex Rebels, who make the journey to PlaySport on 26th November. Get your tickets HERE!