Ukraine Victory Not Enough

Olena Zherzherunova showed up strong for Ukraine with a nice double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds as well as 4 assists and 4 blocks

The Slovak Republic's victory over Germany in the other group game means Ukraine finish third and must go to the additional qualifying round next year.

Ukraine used a 12-0 run in the third quarter to take control of the game and they held off two British rallies late on to secure the win.

Trailing 47-40, Ukraine got a lay-up from Maryna Sazonenko that sparked a dominating run, capped when a Inna Kochubei three-pointer put them 52-47 on top.

The gap reached 10, 59-49, on Sazonenko's three-pointer at the end of the third quarter.

Britain stormed back, slicing the gap to two, 63-61, on Julie Page's jump-shot with 3:37 to go, and finished on a strong run too after Ukraine had jumped 70-61 ahead, but their second rally ran out of time.

Britain had already secured top spot in the group when they beat Germany on Thursday.

Oleksandra Prystupa led Ukraine with 17 points and 10 rebounds, while Nataliia Isachenko had 14 points, and Sazonenko and Olena Ogorodnikova had 13 each.

Jo Leedham led Britain with 19 points, while Kimberly Butler added 11 and Page had 10.

Quotes Ukraine vs. Great Britain

"It was a very difficult and important game for us. We needed this win and now have to wait for the Slovak Republic vs. Germany outcome. We wanted to win with a bigger difference than what we had in Britain but just couldn't do it in the very end. But still we are very happy.

Iryna Shipakina, Ukraine Head Coach:
"This game was very nervous. We prepared for it without much fear about our opponents' full court pressure, but this was the aspect that caused us the most damage. All the girls were very motivated to show our best basketball especially in this city of Dnepropetrovsk where there's a lot of love for the game. I think this put too much pressure on us and slowed us down.

"It appears to me that Olexandra Prystupa finally made the transition from youth to adult basketball and I am very happy for her. Her contribution to tonight's win was invaluable."

Johanna Leedham, Great Britain player:
"We didn't make plays when we should have made them. Ukraine was all over the place and you could tell they were hungry for it. I think they showed their will a little bit more than us which is also very disappointing. I just think that at crucial times we didn't make the right plays and down the stretch that kind of hit us.

Tom Maher, Great Britain Head Coach
"It's disappointing to end this way today. I thought we could have done a little bit better. Their big players were too much to handle for us.

"We had good pretaration [for the Qualification games], we had three months together. Not one of those players play in big clubs. They don't play in EuroLeague Women. They play in England or the play in small colleges in the US or they play second division in Spain. They don't have the experience that mainland European players have. So it was necessary to put them together for long time to get ready. Because we had some time together and because we played 12 friendly games - it was really good preparation and that's what helped us compete."