After leading Tournefeuille, Elan saw the situation reversed in the second part of the match, Sunday, December 4 on the occasion of the 10th day of National 3. But the Aveyronnaises hung on, narrowly missing to win (54-59).
It’s hard to imagine, before the match against Tournefeuille on Sunday December 4, how the players of Élan Aveyron were going to get into the game. Their thoughts are all turned to their teammate Clémence Cabrit, victim of a serious road accident ten days ago, for whom they wore a t-shirt with the number 11 as a sign of support and encouragement. “The atmosphere in the locker room was heavysays coach Nicolas Flottes. I did not dwell on the pre-match speech.”
Russian mountains
As if it were a duty, the players answered the questions by entering the match with determination. The ball circulated well, the offensives were incisive, and the defensive rigor allowed the EAB to take the lead in the first quarter (17-15). Tournefeuille, who understood then that there was going to be a match, tried to reverse the steam very quickly. But the Aveyronnaises, spearheaded by Laura Sincholle, redoubled their determination to keep the score in their favor. And it paid off, because they joined the locker room with a six-point lead (30-24).
But on the resumption, the Toulousaines mounted pressure. The EAB conceded an 8-19 in the period which did not suggest a happy ending. Although the final quarter resumed with a three-point shot from the young Léoni Miravitllas, followed by a well concluded penetration by Goulignac which allowed to equalize at 43 everywhere, the dynamic remained in favor of the visitors. The teammates of the Aveyronnaise of origin, Lucie Espinasse, accelerated even harder to take up to nine points better with four minutes of the term.
But when we thought the case was folded, in a last last stand, the locals clung to come back. Goulignac sowed panic in the defense of Tournefeuille, supported by Gamba and Sincholle still as combative. From basket to basket, the gap narrowed until the equalizer on Sincholle’s free throw 43 seconds from the end. But in the process, the dead time of the Toulouse coach was used to find an open three-point shot that Boutonnet (16 points) was responsible for putting on to give a definitive advantage to Tournefeuille. A victory (54-59) acquired in a much more complicated way than imagined at the start.
