Basketball – Women’s Semi-Final – France vs Belgium
by Vincent Daheron
The French women’s basketball team punched their ticket to the final of the Paris Olympic Games last Friday by defeating Belgium after overtime (81-75).
There will be two finals between France and the United States, Saturday for the men and Sunday for the women.
Jean-Aimé Toupane’s players were pushed to overtime while leading by six units with 50 seconds left. Belgian Emma Meesseman tied it with her three-pointer eight seconds from the buzzer.
The Blues did the extra five minutes better under the leadership of Gabby Williams (18 points including 8 in overtime) to take the reigning European champions out of the tournament.
“If they come back for the extension, it will be complicated but we told ourselves we will do it,” declared Valériane Ayayi (17 points) on France Télévisions. “We gave everything, we fought, we want to reach this final.”
The French team retaliated in the semi-final of the Eurobasket 2023 where it lost by four points (67-63) after trailing most of the game.
Twelve years after London, Iliana Rupert’s teammates (15 points) will play their second Olympic final against the invincible Americans, who have won the last seven editions. The guaranteed gold or silver medal is the third for the French women’s team after silver in 2012 and bronze in 2021.
(Reporting by Vincent Daheron, editing by Jean-Stéphane Brosse)