By James Crook

151007366July 5 - Great Britain's men's team strolled to victory over Poland to make it six consecutive wins at the European Wheelchair Basketball Championships in Frankfurt and book their place in the semi-finals, but the women's team were humbled by Paralympic champions Germany in their semi-final, denying them a shot at the title.

Britain's men's team went off with a bang as they have done in the majority of this tournament, racing into an 8-0 lead, but Poland's Bandura kept his side from falling too far behind their opponents with 12 points of his own in the first quarter.

The British momentum continued however as they immediately went on to an 11-point unanswered run with Joe Bestwick netting five points, before captain Abdi Jama came on to take his personal points tally to 12 and put the reigning champions in a commanding position at the half-time interval, leading 51-29.

The teams went basket for basket for the majority of the third quarter, but Britain extended their lead further in the second half, finishing with a huge 89-56 win to keep their hopes of retaining the European title alive and book their place in the semi-final, where they will face Spain.

Head coach Haj Bhania said: "Our pre-game talk was not to be complacent, and I'm really pleased we did that.

"The guys came out professional in what they did, made sure they finished the things we talked about and made the game look easy because it was all about team work.

"Tomorrow's game is going to be a lot different, a lot tougher as Spain are a very good unit, a very good outfit so we are going to have to be at our best.

"The other thing we did today was rest our key players as much as possible, so they come out as fresh as possible tomorrow.

"It will be a tough challenge but we will do our best."

Bestwick added: "I'm really excited to play Spain as they've been a really great team this tournament.

"They are very powerful inside the key and will be a completely new challenge for us compared to the more outside shooting teams we played earlier in the tournament, so it will be a great semi-final."

2222222222222Britain's women's team bowed out with a disappointing 71-3 defeat by Germany

There was disappointment for the GB women's team however as they were blown out the water by Paralympic gold medallists Germany on their home turf, going down by 71 points to 36.

The game was far tighter than the scoreline suggests in the first half, as Britain came back from a 10-4 deficit to rally to a three-point lead in the second quarter, but tactical substitutions failed to pay dividends and they went into the half-time break three points down.

It was all downhill from there though for Britain who were roundly trounced by a superior German side, with Mareike Adermann hitting 27 points and 19 rebounds in their convincing win which sees them through to the final.

Britain will now face France for the bronze medal.

GB's Amy Conroy said: "We are absolutely gutted, I think we gave it everything in the first half, and in the second half we kind of panicked a bit as we started losing it.

"After losing to them in London in the crossover game we really did want this, but unfortunately on the day it just didn't happen"

Co-head coach Nigel Smith said: "We were very happy with the first half performance, we thought the girls put everything into it.

"But in the end the Germans proved why they are Paralympics Champions, they played well and they deserved the victory."

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