Romania sealed their place in Division A earlier in the evening meaning that victory for GB would also have seen them remain in Europe's top league, but despite three of Britain's players hitting double figures; Sarah McKay (15), Rosalee Mason (11) and Lisa Hutchinson (10), they were unable to secure the much needed win.

"Maybe the pressure of the game got to us. We knew they would zone us and we were more than adequately prepared," said head coach Mark Clark.

"We had enough chances in the first half to win the game and the way we started the game I fully expected us to finish plays better. It's disappointing because we were in control but just couldn't score when we needed to.

"We always knew playing this number of games in such a short time would be a factor and we were a very tired team today.

"I expect us to win in Bosnia but to do so in Romania will need one hell of a performance. This team doesn't want to be a B Division team."

Mason netted with a jumper to get GB off the board, bringing the crowd to their feet for Britain's first basket. Some end to end play followed with GB picking up defensive rebounds well. Mason then doubled her tally with a pair from the freethrow line.

When Kristy Lavin came into the action, with five minutes gone, for McKay, Kim Butler added her name to the board from the charity strip. Finland's Reeta Piipari scored the first three of the game to level it at 8-8 before Hutchinson grabbed a basket and one.

Lavin's layup and three before Finland called timeout, but there was little they could do to stop GB's 9-0 run as Stef Collins made one of her freethrows. The visitors eventually ended that run through Piipari but they ended the quarter in trailing Britain 17-12. It was a low scoring first period with GB only making 5/15 of their shots and Finland 4/15.

McKay took a lay-up early at the beginning of the second before putting in a great block on Taru Tuukkanen which eventually saw Butler net at the other end of the court. Finland eventually pulled the score back to within three points but Mason ensured daylight remained when she was once again on target from the freethrow line. Tiina Sten replied immediately for Finland before Piipari once again drove through the British defence to make it 29-28 to the home side.

GB should then have gone five points clear but both Butler and Lavin saw their shots rejected and Finland consequently took their first lead of the game with yet another three. With 50.6seconds left on the clock Mason missed her first freethrow of the game but converted the second before Collins sunk a three on the buzzer to make it a two-point game in favour of the hosts as both sides headed into the locker room.

Butler only made 2/10 of her shots in the first half but she immediately increased her percentage at the start of the third quarter thanks to a pair from the charity strip, while McKay dominated under the basket adding four to her personal.

But Finland's accuracy from down town continued to keep them in the game; Tiina Sten hit home from the three point line. Britain had enjoyed a seven-point lead but they failed to score for over three minutes allowing the away team back into the game. However McKay ended their drought with two freethrows, which meant she was the first GB player into double points. And GB's 6'7" centre later added yet another two to give them a marginal lead going into the fourth quarter.

With seven minutes on the clock the scores were locked at 49-49 and both sides missed opportunities to take the advantage, until Vilma Kesanen put the ball in off the glass. Not to be outdone Hutchinson sunk her first three of the game.

Lavin returned to the floor with five minutes remaining and GB trailing 53-52. After Mason picked up the rebound Collins drove and hit a jumper to edge forward by a point only to see Finland reply and then Kesanen score from the three point line to give them a four-point lead with only 1:16 left to play.
Less than a minute on the clock Collins hit the three but saw it rejected.

Twenty-five seconds on the clock and McKay drew the foul, with GB needing four points to take the game into overtime. Returning from the timeout McKay sunk her first freethrow but saw her second hit the rim. Finland eventually wrapped the game up when Piipari made it two from two at the charity strip and only 0.2seconds to go giving them a 60-55 win.