Win for GB Women in front of sell-out Surrey Sports Park crowd

Tom Maher's team are now in a three way tie with Slovak Republic and Germany going into the second half of the qualifying campaign.

Jo Leedham led the way for GB as she finished with 18 points, five rebounds, three assists and four steals.

Natalie Stafford added ten points, four steals, three assists and as many rebounds, while Azania Stewart had nine points and five boards.

Inna Kochubei led the visitors with 11 points before fouling out midway through the fourth period.

Ukraine opened the scoring through Lyubov Alyoshkina, and it took until the third minute for Kim Butler to put GB on the scoreboard.

Scores from Julie Page and Leedham tied the points at six minutes through the period but a Kochubei trey put the Ukrainians 13-8 up with 2:30 on the clock and as the missed free-throws mounted, GB went into the first break trailing 15-9 having missed seven of their ten shots at the charity strip.

Olena Ogorodnikova extended that lead with the opening score of the second period and another Kochubei three put the Ukrainian 20-9 up and forced a timeout from Maher with 7:25 on the clock.

Leedham drained from the Land of Plenty to get GB off the mark with just three and half minutes gone, but Ogorodnikova replied from long range to keep her side comfortably ahead.

Butler kept GB in touch and Stafford made it a seven point game on a fast-break to force a Ukraine timeout.

As GB cranked up the defence, Jenaya Wade-Fray cut the deficit to six with a minute remaining as she hit one of two free-throws and Leedham became the first Brit to sink pair from the line with 2.4 seconds remaining to send GB into the half-time break only 25-21 down.

Leedham opened the second half scoring with a jumper before Stafford was hammered while shooting a three following a good Collins pass, and she hit the first two charity shots to level the score at 25.

Page gave GB their first lead of the game with 8:02 on the clock as she hit the first of a pair at the line, and Stewart kept GB a point ahead with four minutes gone as the game continued to be a defensive slog.

Stewart took her tally to four to put GB up by two at the mid-stage of the period before Rachel Vanderwal stole the ball and made it 31-27 to force a Ukraine timeout.

A 6-1 run put the Ukrainians back in front but a shot-clock beating trey from Stafford saw GB go into the final two minutes of the period with a 35-33 lead.

Alyoshkina levelled the score but although Tetyana Shchypankina was called for an intentional foul on Wade-Frey which saw her sit down on four fouls, the chance was wasted, before Stafford hit another big three to send GB into the final break with a 38-35 lead.

Leedham made it a six point game with a long range bomb as GB moved into a 44-35 lead with 7:21 on the clock and forced a Ukraine timeout.

Olena Zherzherunova cut the lead to nine, but Leedham took her tally to 18 with another trey, and GB went into the final five minutes 51-39 ahead.

Stewart and Wade-Frey made it a 14 point lead going into the last four minutes, but an 8-0 run from the visitors saw that lead halved going into the final minute and Maryna Sazonenko made it 55-49 with 25 seconds remaining.

But with the visitors forced to foul, Butler hit a pair at the line before stealing the ball to ice the win and send the sell-out crowd wild.

GB Head Coach, Tom Maher said after the game: "I'm delighted we won, absolutely, but not the way we won. Over the course of the game we struggled with the fundamentals, Jo [Leedham] hit some big shots but I didn't think she had a very good game. We competed well, and Natalie [Stafford] had some good plays, but we didn't play well and we need to be more consistent.

"Germany winning may work in our favour as we can win the group, we try hard and you can't fault our effort, so that's a positive."

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