The penultimate women's quarter final saw Great Britain, second in Pool A, play China, third in Pool B.
In a thrilling end to end opening quarter, it was the GB Women who broke free to pull ahead by 18-12. A dominant second quarter by Great Britain saw the team outshoot China by 17-7 to move into half time with a 35-19 lead.
The third quarter saw Great Britain continue to combine a strong offensive and defensive play to enter the final 10 minutes of the game up by 49-26. A strong final 10 minutes by China saw them win the final quarter by 12-8, but it was Great Britain who won the game by 57-38 and, with it, earned a historical semi final place.
GB Head Coach Miles Thompson said: “It’s always nice to accomplish a goal; the word we’ve used since Canada and that disappointment in pool play – which seems like forever ago – was momentum, and now we’re talking about determination. We just want everyone back home to see just how determined this team is in accomplishing a semi final.”
In terms of Great Britain’s historical place in the semi finals, Thompson added: “We’re just a team in a tournament, playing games and trying to get as far as we can and trying to put a medal around our necks.”
Helen Freeman, GB's top scorer with 24 points said: "Yesterday and today we watched some videos of China: they’re a really good team, but there were some areas that we knew we’d be able to exploit – and we did a great job of doing that. Every single member of this team participated in that win and it was a real team performance.
“I think bouncing back from defeat against Canada was probably key for us because we really learnt how to perform on this stage and coming back to get a win against Germany, that set us up for China. But I think now we’re looking forwards to the semi final and getting that win – our eyes are on a medal now."
For full match statistics click here https://www.rio2016.com/en/paralympics/wheelchair-basketball-womens-quarterfinal-wb-6