FRA/ESP – Akmouche hits dream shot, France beat Spain

PUERTO MONTT (FIBA U19 World Championship for Women) – With the clock about to hit zero, Helena Akmouche launched a jump shot from just inside the three point line.

Scores were tied at 55-55, and the 1000 people packed inside the Puerto Varas Arena held their breath. The ball swished through the net, the French players mobbed Akmouche, and the crowd went crazy. It was the FIBA U19 World Championship for Women at its best.
 
For Akmouche, it was a moment to remember. “I don’t think I have ever hit a shot like this before,” she said. “It was really a hard game, I am really glad that we won today.”
 
The noise from the crowd is something else she will long remember. “Every person here supports you, and even if they are not for either country. It was really important to have this crowd, and maybe this is why we made some big shots.”

The final see-sawing minutes were a fitting end to one of the tightest and most physical matches of the tournament. For Akmouche, who has watched Spain finish ahead of France at her past two European championships, it was extra sweet. “Spain is such a really hard team to play,” Akmouche said.

“I really don’t know what to say, when we beat Spain it is always amazing. They are a great team, but we wanted it so much that we gave everything.”

Coach Jerome Fournier agrees. “My team played very hard defence,” he said. “I expected this defence for a lot of days, and today it (finally) came out. It is a very good feeling for me and the team to see our style, which is defend first, then to run – but first defend.”
 
And as much as the team effort pleased Fournier, so did the individual form of two of his struggling stars. “Two girls, Adja Konteh – who is a very amazing player, you saw that - and (Clarince) Djaldi-Tabdi played a good game,” he said. “So some of our girls have woken up, it is very good news for France!”

Konteh was superb, putting up 15 points and slicing through the Spanish defence, while Djaldi-Tabdi was rock solid with 10 points and 10 rebounds. For Spain, Mariona Ortiz was simply amazing, slashing to the basket time and time again the claim 21 points on 10/14 shooting to go with 7 rebounds.
 
As memorable as it was though, this game is now history and both teams face crucial match-ups tomorrow (Tuesday), France against Brazil, and Spain against Australia.

For a young lady who just made the shot of her life, Akmouche is remarkably grounded about where her team is at. “We played a very bad game against Australia,” Akmouche said. “But today was kind of revenge, and it’s good to win.

“Really, we take it game by game and we will see about that. Every day is another game and we have to win, if we win again we continue.”

FIBA