2023-06-25 19:58:55
Smiles to finish! Les Bleues therefore left Slovenia with a new European medal around their necks. Barely 18 hours after the disappointment experienced the previous evening against Belgium (63-67) in the semi-final of the competition, they won (82-68) on Sunday in a Stozice Arena in Ljubljana, which is still just as sad and empty, against Hungary in the small final of the continental competition. “A bronze medal can have a good taste, it will reward this group which has been giving for a month and which has heart”, confided Sarah Michel after the setback against the Belgians. The captain has been heard. France has found the resources to raise its head.
This Sunday victory puts a bit of repairing balm on the disappointment of the day before and adds a charm to the beautiful collection of Les Bleues. It is indeed the 8th time in a row that they have been on a European podium. After winning gold in 2009 and silver in 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019 and 2021, they therefore add bronze as in 2011. A hell of a collection. No one has done better since the turn of the century.
After two catastrophic first minutes of play (3-7), Marine Fauthoux’s partners react and sound the revolt. They slam a 28-1 straddling the first two quarters which allows them to have a dizzying gap (31-8, 12th). A lead of 23 points that the Hungarians will then grab to return to 9 lengths in the money-time (74-69, 38th). Fortunately two new 3-point shots from Mamignan Touré (20 points in the end including a nice 6 out of 7 from 3 points) put an end to the suspense.
Absent from the quarter-finals and semi-finals due to a shoulder injury, Iliana Rupert (21) reminded everyone that she was a crucial player for France. Despite the huge bandage on the upper right arm, the interior – and sister of recent NBA draftee Rayan Rupert – ends the game with 13 points. For her last match in a Euro, Sandrine Gruda, who celebrated her 36th birthday this Sunday, will settle for one point and 3 rebounds. But the main thing was elsewhere. After a Marseillaise intoned by the French supporters present in the room, the Bleues were also able to wish her a happy birthday before she put her birthday present around her neck.
Sarah Michel’s partners will therefore have lost only one match in this competition, the one that should not be lost and which deprived them of a 6th final in a row in a Euro and a gold medal. . “We were there for the gold medal, it’s not the one we were looking for, that’s how it is, it’s part of the game, slips Jean-Pierre Siutat, president of the Basketball Federation, at the microphone of Bein Sports. We came across a very good Belgian team (in the half), if the match could be replayed we might win it. The group is young, it was played for nothing. We will debrief together to try to improve. But I reassure everyone, the group lives very well. It will be necessary because the Olympic Games in Paris are fast approaching.
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