Stourbridge's Dominique Allen helps England reach basketball semi-finals

England needed to win their qualifying final against the Caribbean outfit to keep their medal hopes alive in Townsville.

And their stifling defence proved absolutely vital in a 62-40 victory – Rachael Vanderwal leading the way with 22 of those points.

Allen came off the bench to score two points and collect four rebounds in the victory, the Wordsley star using all her experience from London 2012 to help guide the team to victory.

"It's a dream come true. It was one of our goals to reach the semi and we knew we'd have a really tough game against Jamaica. We played a really great game today,” she said.

"Our defence fuels our offence every day and that's where we need to be. If we're solid on defence we'll get that easy transition to the basket and that's what broke the game open today."

Next up for England in the semi-finals, as the event moves from Townsville to the Gold Coast proper, is a re-match with the Canadians.

This is the first time since Melbourne 2006 that basketball has been in the Commonwealths and then England secured bronze in both the men and women’s event.

But if they are to better that achievement this time around then they will need to overturn a heavy defeat in the Pool stages against the Canadians.

"We faced Canada in the first round and didn't have a great game (an 80-54 loss). This is redemption for us and we need to make a huge improvement," she added.

And Coach Jose Buceta Fernandez admitted her side would need to show serious improvements to stand a chance against their North American opponents.

"We didn't score enough in the first half. It was not a good day for accuracy but we had the opportunities and our defence was good so I knew the scores would come,” she said.

"Jamaica played good defence so it was not easy for us. They are a very athletic team."