It’s a defeat that has a little taste of victory. Beaten by eleven points by the Americans (93-82), six-fold reigning Olympic champions, Monday, August 2, the French are guaranteed to see the quarter-finals of the Tokyo Olympics.
“It must have surprised a few people to see us so happy at the end when we lost, conceded Ilana Rupert, shortly after the meeting at the microphone of France Televisions. Until the end, every basket was important on both sides. We did it and we’re really happy. “
Since the defeat of the Canadians against the Spaniards on Sunday in one of the other two groups of the tournament, the Bleues knew that their fate was in their hands: a defeat of fourteen points or less against the Americans gave them one of the two. third qualifying places.
The task, however, was far from simple. Victorious in their last 51 games at the Olympics, Breanna Stewart’s teammates remained on four consecutive victories against the French: all of more than seventeen points.
In the lead nine minutes from time
However, the French did better than resist in this meeting. After a complicated start to the game (9-2 for the Americans and the quick exit of Sandrine Gruda for two faults), the daughters of Valérie Garnier quickly recovered and even turned in the lead after the first ten minutes (22 -19). A second quarter less controlled defensively (31 points conceded), however, allowed the players of Dawn Staley to return to the front (50-44).
The French then did the yo-yo for a long time, never being more than seven points behind in the third quarter, allowing them to keep a small mattress to qualify (67-71 at the end of the third quarter) . They even went ahead at the start of the last quarter on a shot from Valériane Vukosavljevic (72-71), before the Americans accelerated and made them tremble slightly.
Led by ten points five minutes from the end, the French were able to count on a three-point basket from Alexia Chartereau to breathe (80-87), before achieving big defensive streaks to deprive their opponents of the slightest point for more than three minutes. Without thinking about returning, the Blue were content to control the clock and the gap to, finally, lose eleven points (82-93).
“We scared each other”
“Obviously, we are very happy. It’s a little weird to be so happy after a defeat, but with the calculations we knew that it was going to be okay for us, captain Endy Miyem explained after the meeting. Despite everything, we keep in mind the fact that we were scared, that we could have done much better. “
A reference undoubtedly to the inaugural defeat in Japan (74-70), which weighed down the start of the French women’s Olympic Games, forcing them immediately to react to Nigeria (87-62) and to achieve a big match against the States United to qualify for a quarter-final which promises to be complicated.
Third in their group, the Blue already know that they will face one of the other two first (Spain, in group A; Belgium or China in group C) or the best second (if it is the Belgium), Wednesday. As with the men, it will depend on the toss to be done later today. “We know we can do it, assures Ilana Rupert. We showed it against Nigeria, and tonight, against the United States. No matter what opponent we have in the quarterfinals, we will be present and we will take up the challenge. “
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