Basket Landes has an appointment with its history. This Sunday on the Espace Mitterrand floor, facing the women’s Asvel Lyon, Marie-Eve Paget’s teammates will try to qualify for the first time for the final four of the Coupe de France.
Remake of the semi-final of the 2021 championship, this face-to-face between the last two French Women’s League champions (1), in great shape at the start of 2022 (three wins in a row each), is one of the two quarter-final gala posters (2). The other will pit Bourges and Lattes-Montpellier, two specialists…
Basket Landes has an appointment with its history. This Sunday on the Espace Mitterrand floor, facing the women’s Asvel Lyon, Marie-Eve Paget’s teammates will try to qualify for the first time for the final four of the Coupe de France.
Remake of the semi-final of the 2021 championship, this face-to-face between the last two French Women’s League champions (1), in great shape at the start of 2022 (three wins in a row each), is one of the two quarter-final gala posters (2). The other will pit Bourges and Lattes-Montpellier, two specialists in the event, who share the last eight editions of the Joe Jaunay trophy (4 wins each).
Enough to make Basket Landes green with envy, of which no team has ever – whether under the Lafargue, Melain or Barennes era – ventured beyond the quarter-finals. Almost an anomaly for a club that has been navigating the upper echelons of French basketball for a decade.
A not obvious draw
A player for a long time and for three seasons coach of Basket Landes, Julie Barennes knows perfectly well the heavy liabilities that the team drags in the competition. “It’s hard to explain why we can’t get over this,” she admits. “Whatever team we line up, whether we are favorites or underdogs, whether we play at home or away, it never happens. But it’s more a combination of circumstances than anything else! »
His participation in the Euroleague, which for two seasons has earned Basket Landes a direct entry into the quarter-finals, has not stopped this cascade of disappointment. After Tarbes in 2019 at home (60-66), last year, it was on the banks of the Elorn that Landerneau had violently (86-73) slammed the door of the semi-finals of the Coupe de France 2021 at the nose of Basket Landes. The desire to defeat the Indian sign is all the more intense, even if with Lyon as their first opponent, the Landaises hit the jackpot.
“As much as we left for the Euroleague without pretension, as much for the Coupe de France, we would really like to go far”
“As much as we left for the Euroleague without pretension of objectives, just to see what it would give, as much in the Coupe de France, we would really like to go far, but the draw is not easy”, recognized Julie Barennes, Thursday, upon his return from Poland.
The day before, on the ground of Gdynia, the Landaises, provisional leaders of LFB, regained the taste of success (87-74) after five defeats in a row in the Euroleague. By winning this duel between the last two of group B, they also have a chance of grabbing sixth place (occupied by Galatasaray with a victory in advance) and of being transferred to the Eurocup at the end of the hens.
“We don’t know if that will be enough because our competitors also won, but it was important to do so, puts the Basket Landes coach into perspective. In the Cup, winning is a priority: it’s a cutthroat match, if you lose, you say goodbye to the competition, you mustn’t miss it. »
Word of defense
In Poland, on the wings of two ex-Lyonnaises, Marine Fauthoux (22 points at 10/15 on shots) and Lidija Turcinovic (17 pts at 6/11), the Landaises delivered and won an attack match – “which is not our primary identity. A field on which Julie Barennes knows that it would be suicidal to venture against Asvel Lyon led by Pierre Vincent, the second most offensive formation in the Women’s League (76.5 points per game against 71.1 for Basket Landes) and third most prolific team in the Eurocup (86 points on average). “If we let them develop their game, it could be complicated,” warns the technician.
“If we let them develop their game, it could be complicated”
As we remember, during the first leg of LFB against Mitterrand at the end of October, Basket Landes had literally exploded (45-85) under the battering of the strike force of the Rhone armada with strong tricolor connotations (Johannes, Ciak , Chevaugeon, Chartereau, Badiane).
“This match is forgotten, slice the coach of Basket Landes. Our team is no longer the same, and at the time, we weren’t able to make the necessary efforts because we were coming out of a big run (7 games in 20 days, editor’s note). On the other hand, if we are not present in defense on Sunday, this is what could happen to us. »
This season, Basket Landes has already demonstrated its ability to arm itself with a defensive arsenal, especially against Euroleague tenors. “We did not beat Fenerbahçe (65-70) by attacking hard, nor Kursk for that matter, underlines Julie Barennes. These are games where we really did the job defensively, which allowed us to hold on. In the league, we block Villeneuve (77-64) because we don’t let them score. We’ll have to remember that at kick-off on Sunday! After the defense, it’s tactics, mental but also physical, a state of form”.
And at this level, the freshness will be on the side of the Rhodaniennes of Pierre Vincent, exempted from the return leg of the second round of the Eurocup play-offs which was to oppose them, Thursday, to the Russians of Nika Syktykvar.
(1) Lyon was crowned in 2019 and Basket Landes in 2021. The title was not awarded in 2020
(2) The other matches: Tarbes-Villeneuve-d’Ascq, Friday and Landerneau-Saint-Amand, Saturday.
