Win keeps Olympic dream alive

GREAT Britain’s women’s basketball team’s Olympic dream is still alive after they qualified for next summer’s EuroBasket finals with a convincing 83-42 win over Portugal.

GB dominated throughout at Belle Vue and clinched the victory they needed to reach their fourth finals – taking them a step closer to the 2020 Tokyo Games.

Rachael Vanderwal was the standout player – scoring 21 points.

Jo Leedham performed strongly for the second game in a row, putting up 18 points during her 75th appearance for GB and adding to the 21 points she scored on Saturday night against Greece at the same venue.

Manchester Mystics star Georgia Jones was thrilled to qualify for the finals.

The 28-year-old said: “To have finally done it is just great and I can’t wait for next summer.”

Head coach Chema Buceta spoke of his delight, and said: “I think this is a very happy day because we reached our goal.

“It’s great to get a win and now we look forward to EuroBasket in 2019.”

Wednesday night marked the end of Azania Stewarts’ international career as she hung up her boots for the last time.

During the past 10 years she has earned 101 caps and scored 607 points for her country.

“I’m really happy,” she said. “It’s all the hard work that we’ve put in over the last year and it’s great for us moving forward into EuroBasket.”