Authors of a very large performance, the French basketball players collectively dominated the Russian team (85-59), Sunday, June 20 in Strasbourg, to go directly to the quarter-finals of Euro 2021 and very clearly consolidate their status from favorites to the continental title. For a place in the semi-finals in Valencia, Saturday, the French will challenge, Wednesday in Strasbourg, Bosnia-Herzegovina or Croatia, which face each other in play-offs on Monday.
If the blue sky and the sweltering heat of Strasbourg gave way to thunderstorms and much more breathable temperatures on Sunday afternoon, the good looks above the French women’s basketball team from the start preparation and then Euro 2021 has not changed at all.
And yet, the opponent had enough to cause problems. Of course, Russia has not been on a European podium since its coronation in 2011, but with its young guard Raïsa Musina, Maria Vadeeva, Nina Glonti, it had the weapons to annoy the best European teams.
But the France team is currently difficult to play, as it puts intensity in its defensive phases, as evidenced by the four small points collected in the second quarter, a true model of destruction of the opposing attack.
Collective demonstration
This quarter came to give the advantage to the Blue, led to the score after ten minutes (19-14 for Russia). But the Russians never completely won the score before the last five minutes, sticking together thanks to a big success in shooting at three points, and forcing the daughters of Valérie Garnier to also answer three points, by Alix Duchet, Marine Johannès and Sarah Michel in the last quarter before unfolding.
And if in the first two games she had relied on a few individualities (Sandrine Gruda, Endy Miyem, Marine Johannès), against Russia, it is the entire team that has contributed to the building, with the exception of Olivia Epoupa, injured in the right ankle and still left to rest. Apart from Iliana Rupert, who was not used by Valérie Garrnier, the ten players scored at least one basket on Sunday.
With this victory, the Blues opened the way to the final, since they find themselves in a very affordable half of the table and will not be able to face Serbia, Spain and Belgium (the three other European nations with France qualified for the Tokyo Games) before the final.
