Great Britain Women are one step closer to qualifying for the 2019 EuroBasket Championships thanks to a tight 79-77 win over Greece in Belle Vue.
Johannah Leedham and Manchester Mystics star Georgia Jones led the way with the scoring as Stefanie Collins’ side claimed their fourth win of the campaign.
The win means that the team are one game away from qualifying for their fourth EuroBasket Finals which are being hosted by Latvia and Serbia next June.
Credit: Ollie Thorpe/SalfordNow
Great Britain Women led for the majority of the game and built commanding leads, putting the Greeks under pressure for long periods.
Having led 16-8 at the end of the opening quarter and they kept their foot on the gas as they accelerated to a 39-25 lead at the end of the second. Jones scored 10 of the 23 points in the quarter, giving her hometown crowd something else to cheer about.
Whatever was said at the Greece half-time team talk must have worked as they then applied pressure on their hosts in the third quarter, having scored 33 points to close the gap to just three points.
Azania Stewart scored a point in the third quarter as she celebrated her 100th cap for Great Britain. The 29-year-old from Camden will retire on Wednesday night.
With just 10 minutes to go and a single quarter, the game was well and truly on in front of a full house at the National Basketball Performance Centre.
With five minutes to go the gap was increased to five points as Tami Fagbenle hooped from within the paint.
Greece then drew level after some world-class shooting before Karlie Samuelson scored her 14th point of the night. Leedham scored the final points of the night to add a cushion.
Greece then closed the gap once more in the final seconds but Great Britain held on for the win.
Their final qualifier will take place on Wednesday night against Portugal.
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