Great Britain's women suffered a 63-50 defeat by Canada at Meadowbank yesterday in the latest test in their lengthy build-up to the Olympics.
Having won 70-57 against the same opponents 24 hours earlier, there were positive and negative signs as London looms into view.
For head coach Tom Maher, minimal evaluation will be required before he decides upon his final squad of 12 for the Games this week.
Two must go. One decision will be simple. Under inter-national rules, each team can field only one naturalised player. Australian-born Natalie Stafford, who led GB in scoring in both ties, will surely beat out Steph Gandy, raised in the USA. The final cut is more complex.
Rose Anderson, the only Scot in the squad, looks to have made a persuasive case for inclusion. Scoring six points over the two games, the Edinburgh-born guard conceded her mistakes must be reduced before the real battles begin. "Fouling got me in trouble," she admitted after the first game against Canada. "I had four and that's not good on a personal note, but we won and that's what matters."
Canada were much more impressive second time out as they build towards this month's Olympic qualifying tournament. Ahead 6-0 before Stafford opened GB's account, the visitors went on an 18-4 run to close the period, and lead 28-6 early in the second.
"It's disappointing to come out like that, especially being the team that we are, where we do want to come out and fight," said Anderson. However, there was plenty of resolve shown. A 10-1 burst ignited the hosts, who trailed only 32-24 at half-time.
As the recovery continued, Stafford and Anderson brought their side to within four in the third quarter, but, consecutive three-pointers from Courtnay Pilypaitis in the fourth gave Canada breathing space.
"They were really physical," said Jo Leedham, who matched Stafford's tally of 14 points. "They gave us a taste of our own medicine after yesterday. We kind of sat there and took it and didn't swing many punches back. At the end of the second quarter, we put them under pressure and that enabled us to cut the lead. But we made too many mistakes."
Britain will now head to Turkey next weekend for a four-nation warm-up tournament. Maher, bound for his fourth Olympics, knows there is still work to do.
"We spent a lot of time defensively at our training camp, so we were a little bit behind offensively and that showed," he said. "But until you practice these things enough, you have to expect that, and it showed."
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