Basketball star Jones believes Commonwealth Games success can galvanise Team GB in qualifiers
BySportsbeat
Published 26/08/2018 at 12:16 GMT
Basketball star Georgia Jones is confident Great Britain can build on Team England's success at the Commonwealth Games as they prepare for their final two EuroBasket 2019 qualifiers.
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The 28-year-old was part of the side that claimed Team England's first ever basketball silver medal on the Gold Coast, after losing out to tournament favourites Australia in the final.
She is now hoping that triumph will galvanise Great Britain as they look to secure qualification to EuroBasket 2019, having failed to reach the competition in 2017.
GB sit joint top of their qualifying group and Jones believes they have shown they have the ability to progress past Greece and Portugal to reach the finals.
"Based on how we've been playing this last few (international) windows, I think we've gone from strength-to-strength," she said.
"Every win we're gaining momentum so I'd say things would have to be drastic for us to not feel confident."
Team England toppled Canada in the semi-finals en route to finishing on the podium in Australia, having lost to the side ranked fifth in the world in their opening Pool A match.
Jones revealed they changed their game plan in the semi-final and upped the pressure to limit perimeter attempts, which worked to perfection as they improved on their bronze from 2006.
"We really did change it up," she explained. "We put a lot of pressure on them in the second game and we actually saw how Australia pressured Canada in their pool game.
"We learnt from that and that they really couldn't handle the pressure."
And Jones, who also plays for Manchester Mystics in the Women's British Basketball League, said her Commonwealth Games experience was one she will not forget in a hurry.
"We went there wanting to get a medal and obviously we achieved that," she said.
"We thought getting a bronze would be great, but to get a silver was amazing – we're just really pleased with the overall performance, the team chemistry and the whole environment was just amazing to be around."
But the point guard had more than just a silver medal to celebrate at the Commonwealth Games, after fellow basketball star Jamell Anderson proposed to her on-court.
"I was completely shocked, I had no idea, I'm a bit naïve to those sort of things," she added.
"It was just perfect, obviously we met through basketball and it was just such an achievement for us both to be there."
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