London 2012 Olympics: GB women basketball team scare reigning Games champions United States You expect to win a soccer game against the USA because you think you are that much better, because of your history and tradition, the quality of players you have. It is the same with the women's basketball team and the men's basketball team in the United States. We have the kind of players, the kind of programme, the kind of history behind us that gives us a kind of not only arrogance but it's an expectation. We're the United States and we're expected to win and we expect to win. So if we get down 11, our players look at it as it is just a matter of time before we impose ourselves on the other team. A lot of this has to do with the depth we have. If we only had six or seven players, playing against six or seven players of Britain, maybe this would have been a very close game, maybe it would have been a loss. Because we can count on 11 or 12 players, and maybe the depth of Britain isn't the same, that gives our players confidence. We are never in any sort of panic and that goes back to the talent, the history, the reputation of our programme. Meanwhile GB captain Jo Leedham, who scored a game-high 21 points and contributed four assists, said she was satisfied with the result, as her side continued their upward curve under veteran coach Maher, whose side picked up where they had left off against France three days earlier with an astonishing start that put the world champions under immediate pressure. "This is a good outcome for us," she enthused. I don't think we executed great but we showed ourselves that when we are executing, we can play at that level. We should have the belief and confidence that we can play with these players. Their athleticism is crazy. They're the most athletic team I'm ever going to face. When you put all 12 of those players together, it's amazing. But we have to do the little things - the grit, the aggression - that allows us to compete with teams like that. Team GB's Julie Page recorded six points along with her eight rebounds, while Azania Stewart added nine points and three rebounds, and Temi Fagbenle contributed four points, five rebounds and two assists. Our players will look back on this as a milestone in their careers, hopefully. What a fantastic dress rehearsal for the Olympics," Maher said. I'm just thrilled with the progress of the players. Four years ago we were rubbish, now they can play a team like this and look respectable. We learned a lot when we played Australia, when we played France, and we can learn a lot from this. These are all first-time experiences for us and you can really see the learning curve. The result leaves GB women with a record eight wins and eight losses from their 16 build-up games for the Olympics, while their male counterparts face the USA men on Thursday night at the MEN Arena.