Jenaya Wade-Fray’s GB Standard Life women's coach Tom Maher and senior player Natalie Stafford were both delighted as their sided reached the EuroBasket finals for the first time.
A 70-66 loss in Ukraine in their final game couldn't prevent Maher's team finishing top of the Qualifying Group D, and earn them a place in the finals in Lithuania next June.
"It was very disappointing, we could have won the game but we made too many bad decisions" said Maher.
"Nevertheless we shouldn't detract from what the players have achieved this summer."
Britain lost their first and last games in the qualifiers, but four straight wins in the middle games proved to be enough to send them into the finals where they can expect to be a third seed.
Stafford was also delighted to help GB into the finals: "It went fantastic. It was better than expected from most people's point of view, to win four out of six is great.
"We came together really well as a team and that was probably the most pleasing thing about the whole summer. Next year will be different, and bring new challenges, but I'm really looking forward to it."
Having lived in England for seven years, Stafford was eligible for a British passport, and British Basketball managed to get it fast-tracked so that she could link up with Maher. However, work commitments meant that Stafford only played in the second half of a 12-game warm-up programme, but she certainly made her mark when GB hosted Portugal at Surrey Sports.
In the six competitive games, Stafford finished with an average of 9.7 points per game, adding an average of three assists and 2.5 steals.
The Barking Abbey Leopards guard admits that with the tournament taking place in mid-June and warm-ups likely to begin in early May, she will have to call in some favors if she is to get time off: "I'm going to have to do a lot of begging, but hopefully it will be okay. It's not every day that GB get play in the European finals."
At the moment, though, she is just looking forward to a rest after a long summer: "I haven't thought much about next season, it took 15 hours door-to-door to get home from Ukraine, and I just want to have a bit of a break."
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