French U20 team saved: 13th place means staying in Division A
The French U20 women’s team, two-time defending European champions, saved the essential at EuroBasket by maintaining their Division A status. On Sunday afternoon in Matosinhos, Emmanuel Body’s players overcame Portugal (72-65) in the game for 13th place, though with much more difficulty than in the group phase where they had won by 41 points.
A tournament to forget for the young French team
After an encouraging group phase, France experienced a real disappointment in the round of 16, losing to Israel (74-81). The defeat against Latvia (87-93 after overtime) in the classification matches then pushed the French team to the brink of relegation to Division B, an unthinkable scenario for a team with such a prestigious record.
To escape this situation, Léa Djoko and her teammates bounced back by beating the Czech Republic (94-69), before concluding against Portugal. This victory, however, was far from straightforward.
A decisive money time
Without their leader Marine Dursus, the French had a difficult start to the game, allowing the Portuguese to lead for seven minutes in the first quarter. Then, after seeing their lead shrink to 52-50 at the end of the third quarter, they struggled again at 60-56 in the final period.
Finally, France made the difference in money time. Elodie Lutbert, top scorer with 11 points (for 14 in evaluation), was decisive, well supported by scoring distribution across ten players. But this laborious end to the tournament raises questions about the current functioning of the French team.
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