Faithful to the last four, the French basketball players qualified, Wednesday, June 23, for the semi-finals of the Euro 2021 women’s basketball in Strasbourg. They largely beat Bosnia-Herzegovina (80-67), thus reaching for the seventh time in their history the last four of the European Championship.
The players of Valérie Garnier, who have won four silver medals in a row in the competition, will face Belarus on Saturday in Valencia, for a remake of the semi-final of Euro 2009, the last European title of the Blue.
🇫🇷 THE BLUES ARE IN THE EURO SEMI-FINAL! 😍 A controlled quarter against Bosnia sends France in the last… https://t.co/WWnRTJ16cv
The French women’s table towards the final of Euro 2021 clearly emerged at the end of the first round completely mastered by the teammates of Endy Miyem, since they are guaranteed to avoid the other top names in European women’s basketball. , Spain, Serbia, Belgium and Russia, before the final.
Wednesday at the beginning of the evening at the Rhénus, they suffered for their last match in front of the French public before taking the direction of Valence, in Spain, where the last four of the European competition will be played.
As since the start of Euro 2021, the French have been slow to take the measure of their opponent, the fault of a poor marksmanship – around a third of the baskets registered for nearly a quarter of an hour of play – especially on free throws, a sector that had bordered on perfection against Russia (24/27) on Sunday in a group match.
Thanks to the interceptions of Sandrine Gruda, the baskets of Gabby Williams and the good comeback of Iliana Rupert, more used by Valérie Garnier on Wednesday night than during the first three group matches, the French have gradually made the difference in the score, without panicking against the surprise team of the European Championship.
MARINE JOHANNES! 🔥🚨 @FRABasketball 🇫🇷 | #EuroBasketWomen 📺 https://t.co/PtPOp6dbaD https://t.co/zJtkhPk3kX
Returning from the locker room, Marine Johannes set the sights perfectly, with two award-winning shots and a two-point basket in the periphery, increasing the gap to 16 points (49-33, 23e), but the pivot of Bosnia, the naturalized Bahamian Jonquel Jones, allowed her teammates to pick up the score (51-46, 28e).
Jonquel Jones ended the game with a thrilling statistic, with 29 points and 24 rebounds, confirming her status as the most prolific player in the Euro. Valérie Garnier had warned before the match that it would perhaps be necessary to accept the fact that she scored more than 20 points, on condition of muzzling Jones’ teammates, which the French defense led by an excellent Valériane Vukosavljevic, succeeded to achieve.
The French, however, have a much larger bench and Endy’s teammates were able to start the last ten minutes with another 16 points ahead, on a 3-point basket from Marine Johannes on the buzzer (63-47).
The French were then able to manage, to finally win by 13 points. Favorites for the European title, they can continue to dream of gold turning their backs on them since 2009, when they won their four games of the competition with a comfortable lead.
