Bourges and Villeneuve d’Ascq have one foot in the final

Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Tuesday, May 09, 2023 at 11:02 p.m.

Villeneuve d’Ascq won 60-75 on the Lattes-Montpellier floor in the first leg of the LFB semi-finals, and therefore has a good chance of playing in the final, against Bourges, who won by thirteen points against ASVEL.

While waiting for the best-of-three final, the semi-finals of the French women’s basketball championship are played in a round-trip match, this Tuesday and this Saturday, and Villeneuve d’Ascq has taken a big step towards the final! The northern club, second in the regular season, won 60-75 at Lattes-Montpellier, third, and the BLMA will have to pull off a small feat in the return if they want to qualify for the final. From the first quarter, the ESBVA had established its grip on the match, winning it 13-26. And the Héraultaises never managed to recover from this catastrophic start. On the contrary ! They were up to 20 points behind in the second quarter (15-35 then 20-40) and finally joined the locker room being led by fifteen (25-40). On the restart, Villeneuve d’Ascq stepped on the accelerator again and took a 25-point lead (39-64). The last stand of the Héraultaises in the last quarter (17-11) allowed them to finally bow “only” by fifteen points, but the mass already seems almost over for the BLMA. Author of 21 points and 6 rebounds, Kennedy Burke, MVP of the regular season, still carried his team, while opposite, Kyara Linskens had to settle for 16 points for Lattes-Montpellier.

Bourges off to a good start

In the evening, the shock of these semi-finals opposed Bourges, fourth in the regular season, to ASVEL, first. And it was the Tango who won 80-67 and therefore also took a step towards the final. In this match between the 2022 and 2023 winners of the Eurocup, it was the Lyonnaises who started the match best by winning the first quarter 15-18, but the Berruyères did not give up and were only trailing by two points at the break (34-36). However, on the restart, the reigning French champions managed to create a small gap (49-41), which they managed to keep (54-46), and even to amplify during a last quarter that they dominated head and shoulders, in the wake of the duo Yvonne Anderson – Pauline Astier, authors of respectively 30 and 23 points, their record in the orange jersey. The gap climbed to +17 in the last minutes, but it is ultimately with a thirteen point lead that the players from Cher will go to the Rhône. After this victory, the Prado could pay a nice tribute to Elodie Godin, who will retire at the end of the season to become the team’s “team manager”. On the ASVEL side, Gaby Williams scored 15 points, but she finished the match with a bloody face after taking a hit in the eye. The French international has four days to recover, as her absence would probably be prohibitive for the Lyonnaises.