The French women’s basketball team qualified for the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time in its history after breaking its glass ceiling in the quarter-finals, without trembling against China (90-61) on Thursday September 10 in Berlin.
She will face Belgium or Germany on Saturday (4:30 p.m.), opposed later in the day (5:45 p.m.), in the last four of the competition. This is a first: the French have only finished among the top four in the competition once, in 1953 (3rd), at the end of a group stage.
Building on the momentum of their sparkling group stage, the French team, Olympic vice-champion in Paris, has reached a new milestone: it had stopped in the quarter-finals during the last six editions.
Homogeneous collective
During the last one, in 2022 in Sydney, already against China, the Blues lost 85 to 71. This time the Chinese did not go the distance in Berlin against the tempo and aggressiveness imposed by the Tricolores of Gabby Williams (14 pts, 7 rebounds, 2 interceptions), continuously thanks to the depth of their bench, which is much greater.
China and its two giants Han Xu (2.05 m) and Zhang Ziyu (2.23 m), of whom only the first weighed (21 pts, 9 rebounds), were left behind in the second quarter (25-20 at the end of the first quarter, 48-31 at half-time) before suffering a new burst in the next.
Three winning shots in a row allowed the French, still skilful at long distance for three quarters before a drop in speed (14/37 in the end), to push China back to more than 25 points just before the final period (68-41, 29th).
Including two from Marine Johannès, still decisive coming off the bench (15 pts, 7 assists) and symbol of this very homogeneous collective which leads the Bleues to the semi-finals of the World Cup for the first time in their history.
With AFP
