Britain began the game with Whittington and Wilkinson alongside Hannah Robb, Tia Freeman and Ire Ozzy-Momodu in the starting lineup against familiar opponents, having played Israel in two prep games in Manchester a few days earlier.

Wilkinson, once of Barking Abbey but having completed her freshman year at Florida State, was closely watched after being marked out by FIBA as one of the potential standouts. It was the 5'11 guard who got GB's opening points.

The Israelis had good ball movement and never let their pressure cease at any point, taking the first quarter 25-9.

GB would cut the deficit back to 9 at one stage after layups from Whittington and Wilkinson. The presence of 6'2 centre Ozzy-Momodu gave Israel some concern and led to GB inside shooting reaching nearly 50% in the first half. However, outside shooting was less effective and GB trailed 25-35 at the break, despite 12 points for Whittington.

Neither team found their rhythm when they returned and it took over three minutes for the first blows to be struck.

Wilkinson made two from three free throws to get GB moving but it was another period of frustration for GB which saw them trail by 15 with one quarter remaining.

Try as they might, the GB team couldn't get on level terms, despite strong work from Loren Christie and others off the glass. Christie as well as Sheffield and Myerscough product Shauna Harrison contributed ten rebounds each, with Christie an additional 7 points. Full stats are available via the FIBA site.

The U20 women are back in action immediately on Sunday when they face hosts Romania in a 1730 BST tip.

Head Coach Jeff Jones told gbbasketball.com, "We obviously got off to a horrible start in the first quarter and we probably didn't adapt to the occasion of playing in a European Championship as a team together for the first time."

"We froze a little bit but it got better in the second quarter and the kids coming off the bench did a good job."

Every competitive game played by Great Britain's junior teams this summer will be streamed live via the British Basketball Facebook page.