Beautiful evening for the champions of France. Basket Landes indeed dominated the promoted Angers (89-74) on Saturday at home and well prepared for its Coupe de France final next Saturday at Paris-Bercy against Bourges. This success allows the Landaises to join Villeneuve d’Ascq in second place while Asvel, fifth with a victory for these two teams and Charleville, receives Lattes-Montpellier on Sunday.
As a bonus, the Landaises have found their two emblematic figures, Céline Dumerc and Valériane Vukosavljevic. Arrested (adductors) a few weeks, the former captain of the Blue (39) played 17 minutes for 4 points and 7 assists. Her ex-teammate in the selection, she was playing her first match since her maternity leave. The winger, bronze medalist at the Tokyo Olympics, played seven minutes and secured 5 points for two successful shots out of two. Regan Margarity (32 points, 12 rebounds) and Marianna Tolo (20 points) spearheaded the success of Julie Barennes’ daughters.
Tarbes made the good operation of the evening by dominating Saint-Amand (76-63), a direct opponent for eighth place in the final phase. The Pyrenees took over the point-average (55-57 defeat in the first leg). The Flammes de Charleville won at Landerneau (64-56) after three straight losses and rebounded for the top 4 while Bourges, assured of first place, inflicted a fifteenth defeat in a row on the red lantern Charnay (76-70) with 28 points and 8 rebounds from Iliana Rupert.
