The Great Britain Women showed a great deal of pride but unfortunately fell 78-66 to Brazil in their final game of London 2012 on Sunday.

 

After hanging with the South American outfit for two quarters, Great Britain fell victims of a 9-0 run in the third to fall behind and never found a way back into the game.

 

Natalie Stafford led GB with a double-double of 15 points and 11 rebounds while Jo Leedham hit 12 points.

 

"It's upsetting that we couldn't get a win in these Olympics," Azania Stewart said afterwards. "We played as hard as we could for the fans and I hope they've enjoyed the experience of being at the Olympics and seeing basketball being put on the map."

 

Temi Fagbenle added: "We played hard and we fought to the end and that's all that matters.

 

"I thought the fans were fantastic and I hope they enjoyed this, we're just sorry we couldn't get the win for them."

 

Despite the loss, head coach Tom Maher was positive of his side's performance during these Olympic Games.

 

"They were great results," he admitted. "If Andorra played in the football world cup and their biggest loss was a 1-0 defeat to Spain it would be a great thing. We were Andorra playing against Germany and Spain.

 

"The results have been magnificent. Sure, I would have liked to have won but if France had missed that three-pointer at the buzzer, we would have won the game, other than that we shouldn't have won any. The fact that we are talking about 'can we beat these teams?' is unbelievable. We have gone from a grade C to a grade A."

 

After a slow start, GB found themselves down 5-0 early, but free-throws from Azania Stewart got the Olympic hosts off the mark and a transition bucket from Natalie Stafford cut the deficit to 5-4 early doors.

 

Britain were behind mid-way through the first 13-8 thanks to a three from Brazil's Karla Costa but they fought back through Stafford and a Stef Collins three which tied the game at 19-19 to end the first quarter.

 

Rose Anderson got the second quarter off to a good start with a triple, but Brazil replied by reeling off five quick points to edge ahead 24-22. Leedham tied the game at 24-24 with a nice backdoor cut and reverse lay-up.

 

Brazil though were determined inside and Erika Sousa scored to open the South American's lead to 32-28 with 3:39 left of the second. Handy countered with a three and later on Julie Page hit another three a tie the game at 36.

 

Adriana Pinto though hit back to end the second quarter with a huge triple to put Brazil 39-36 up at half-time.

 

Turnovers haunted Great Britain to start the third quarter as Pinto and a three-point play from Franciele Nascimento extended Brazil's lead to 45-36. Kim Butler answered back with a three of her own to narrow the gap to 45-39. Brazil though kept attacking the Brits with a lay-up from Joice Rodrigues which gave them a 51-41 lead with 6:01 to play in the third as Tom Maher was forced to call a timeout.

 

Unfortunately the timeout had little effect, Brazil were composed and led 64-53 at the end of the third.

 

Both sides looked tired in the opening exchanges of the fourth, Brazil though edged further ahead. Azania Stewart tried to claw GB back in the latter stages but it wasn't to be.

 

Clarissa Santos and Erika Sousa led Brazil with 16 points each.

 

The GB men will play their final game of the London 2012 Olympic Games this afternoon against China, tip off 4:45pm.