Game Report, France vs Russia 74-64, Eight-Finals

BARUERI (2006 FIBA World Championship for Women) - The unpredictable French claimed another famous win by defeating European giants Russia in Group F on the first day of the eight-finals.

France, a side that coach Alain Jardel expected to struggle before the tournament due to some of the inexperience in the team, upset the Czech Republic in their Group D opener but then slipped up against Cuba.

Nathalie Lesdema and Les Bleues were on Saturday excellent against Russia, the side that finished runners-up to Team USA four years ago in China.

Lesdema, facing some of her team-mates at BC Volgaburmash (CSKA Samara) in Russia last season, led France with 16 points.

“I'm very pleased,” Lesdema said.

“We started the second phase in a good way. We knew we were going to have to defend much better than we did against Cuba and we did.

“We stuck together the whole time and the team spirit made all the difference.”

France built a 41-27 lead at half-time but Russia came storming back and took the lead.

An Elodie Godin jump shot put France in front to stay at 44-43 with 8:20 remaining, and then an Emilie Gomis three-pointer and a Lesdema jumper stretched the advantage even further.

Russia pulled to within one on three occasions, but each time the French had an answer and they held on for a two-point win.

Jardel could hardly contain his joy.

“This is a great day for us,” he said.

“We beat a superior team which we hadn't been able to beat for the last few years.

“We played based on team effort and fighting spirit.

“Basketball is not an individual sport or a fashion show, so you need to play collectively.

“It was all about mental control. We are an inferior team and we had to be really concentrated to win.”

Lesdema’s clubmate at Volgaburmash (CSKA Samara), Maria Stepanova, finished with a game-high 18 points and also hauled down six rebounds.

“Today it looked like they wanted to win this match three times more than us,” said Russia boss Igor Grudin, who also serves at the coach of CSKA Samara.

“They were really good on defense. They fought for every ball, for every spot on court. They were much better than us in offensive rebounds and that was the key to their victory.”

16.09.2006 Boxscores

Brazil vs Lithuania: 84-67
Chinese Taipei vs Nigeria: 81-77
Canada vs Argentina: 58-62
France vs Russia:  74-64
Australia vs Spain: 72-68
Republic Czech vs China: 79-73
Korea vs Senegal: 75-69
Cuba vs USA: 50-90

By PA Sport