The French basketball players qualified, Saturday, June 26, for their fifth consecutive final of the Women’s Basketball Euro in Valencia, thanks to their victory (73-61) over Belarus. While remaining on four losses in a row at a march for the continental title, the players of Valérie Garnier will try to win the third Euro in their history, after 2001 and 2009, against the winner of the second semi-final between Serbia to Belgium on Saturday evening.
Their success took time to emerge, the fault of a chronic clumsiness during the first half, from which only Endy Miyem seemed to escape, she who scored 15 points in the first 20 minutes.
The captain did not give up afterwards: to celebrate her 222nd selection, it took only three quarters to beat her points record under the blue tunic, which was 22, finally registering 24 points. . “I was highly motivated like all my teammates. Sometimes we are transcended and I think that was the case tonight “, she smiled after the match on Canal + Sport.
Lack of address
But in their camp, the Blue remained intractable, leaving very little space to their evening opponents in this match which opposed the two best defenses of the tournament. “It was tough against a team that tried to change our pace, we found the weapons, we have one game left, that’s what we have in mind”, explained Alexia Chartereau at the microphone of Canal + Sport after the meeting.
If they managed to limit the impact of winger Maryia Papova (4 points), who averaged nearly 17 points before this match, the French suffered in the face of the activity of Alexandria Bentley (23 points).
Despite a lack of skill that will have to be erased in view of the final, of which Sandrine Gruda was one of the symbols (6 points), Valérie Garnier recorded another good news: the return of Olivia Epoupa from the 13th minute, injured her right ankle in the first match of Euro-2021 after only two minutes of play.
Sandrine Gruda and Endy Miyem, the only two players present during the triumph in Riga twelve years ago, are therefore only one match away from joining Cathy Melain, the only French double European champion (2001, 2009). For that, it will be necessary to beat Belgium or Serbia, which face each other Saturday at 9 pm. If they find the Serbs, the Blue could take their revenge on the final lost in 2015.