MANCHESTER Mystics exile Georgia Jones is confident that American university basketball will prepare her for her ultimate goal – the 2012 Olympics.

The Great Britain guard has started her Stateside career at Oral Roberts in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with whom she will face hometown pal Lauren Thomas-Johnson’s Marquette on Saturday.

Jones, the 18-year-old daughter of Magic coach Jeff, has already come a long way in a short career to date as the focal point of the Mystics team and the youngest player to represent the GB senior team.

Now she is preparing to further her education under her father’s former college teammate Jerry Finkbeiner at the NCAA Division 1 team – and got off to a flying start with 21 points in 39 minutes of a 84-79 friendly defeat to Central Oklahoma on Saturday.

“I am really looking forward to it,” she said. “It is something new and far away from home but it should be a good challenge.

“I am going into it hoping to play as much as I can.

“My coach has been really positive with me and when I went over to visit I trained and they seemed pretty impressed.

“Hopefully, I’ll get to play plenty of minutes and develop as a player.”

The guiding hand of Finkbeiner and the proximity of family – as well as another English teammate in the shape of Dominique Allen – should ease the transition for the former Loretto student.

Helped

“That has definitely helped and I have family in Oklahoma so that should help as well,” she added.

After an amazing Great Britain promotion season last season, life in Europe’s top-flight hasn’t been easy this year.

A run of defeats have sapped morale, but the campaign restarts with six games in January and Jones remains positive.

“It was tough and its not fun losing,” she said. “It is a big step up into Division A and in some games it probably seemed like we weren’t ready for it, but we will definitely be ready for the challenge in January and want to show everyone we should be in Division A.”

Staying in the division is vital with the London Games on the horizon.

“Everything geared to 2012,” she said. “I will be working to that over the next four years and hopefully play pro somewhere after that.”

Magic and the Mystics have a host of youngsters furthering their careers aboard, mainly in the US. Click the link for details http://www.magicbasketball.co.uk/

Tweet