PIRAEUS (Greece) - An inspired and historical performance by teenager Awa Fam provided the platform for Spain to wrap up a dramatic 65-64 FIBA Women's EuroBasket 2025 Semi-Final success against France.
Fam became the first player aged under 20 years old to score 20 or more points in a Semi-Final since 1989, while at the other end of the spectrum, Alba Torrens became the first player to have ever scored 100 or more career points in the Semi-Finals of the tournament.
Turning point
Trailing 44-36 and having been down by as many as 10 points, Spain visibly ramped up their defensive pressure and France cracked. They capitalized on a string of French turnovers to post an amazing 15-2 run as they restricted their opponents to just 3 points in almost 8 minutes of action.
But the real turning point came with less than a second left on the game clock when Iliana Rupert missed her second free-throw that would have took the contest to overtime.
TCL Player of the Game
Fam recorded a performance efficiency valuation of 31 after harvesting 21 points, 9 rebounds, 3 assists and 2 blocks. She also made a big clutch shot down the game stretch too and matched the physicality of France brilliantly.
Stats don't lie
France put up a staggering 30 attempts from downtown and missed 25 of them. That hurt - a lot. Meanwhile Spain came up with 7 blocks and that was a monumental defensive effort.
Bottom line
The crowd in Piraeus were left on the edge of their seats as Spain showed their resilience and heart once again by coming back from a double-digit deficit to edge their great rivals - as they had also done in the Quarter-Final against Czechia. The performance of Fam off the back of Carrera in the last game showed the good times are about to roll again and now they will at least match their silver medal from the 2023 edition.
France will be kicking themselves and their wait to win the famous trophy will now be at least 18-years. They were in total control but were knocked out of their stride in that third quarter in a big way. Their reliance on shooting threes when they are so big and strong inside was ultimately flawed and they paid a heavy price. Now they will look to recover and match the bronze medal they won at the 2023 edition.
They said
"We have super competitive players and I am a lucky man to have this opportunity. We played like a team and shared the ball and the moments. Last time it was Raquel [Carrera] and this time it was Awa [Fam]and this is the way - Spanish style. Now we try to play one more game to wrap up the trophy." Spanish coach, Miguel Mendez. "I am very happy. My teammates and my coaches trust in me. I know this. I enjoyed it so much today and I am happy because I love basketball. We defended well and we had a desire to want to block shots," Spanish center, Awa Fam. "Spain played great so congratulations to them. I just feel sorry for my players. We just couldn't play in the same way that we wanted to." French coach, Jean-Aime Toupane "Congrats to Spain as they had a solid game and performance. They knew how to stop us. We were shooting really well [from the three-point line] in the tournament and we were confident in taking our shots. Spain pushed us and contested at the end, but most of them were open and we just didn't score them." French winger, Valeriane Ayayi
FIBA