No new feat for Villeneuve-d’Ascq. This Sunday in Mersin in Turkey, ESBVA-LM, the club from the northern city, was heavily beaten by Fenerbahçe, 106 to 73, in the final of the Euroleague basketball. Rachid Méziane’s players, however, got back into their match well, ending the first quarter with a score of 28 to 27 in favor of the Turks. And despite a few losses of balls and some inaccuracies, they managed to get back on track halfway through the second act.
But, opposite, the team of Valérie Garnier, the former coach of the French women’s team, never trembled and finally managed to gradually break away from the Northerners, who were less and less precise in the throughout the match, with a total of 20 ball losses.
“They deserve their victory”
“We are too far away,” Rachid Méziane admitted to the organizers’ microphone afterwards. If we compare our level with that of the Fenerbahçe team… They were simply stronger today. They played better basketball than us and they deserve their victory. We still have to learn to become a better team next year. »
Having reached this final remains an achievement for the club from the Lille metropolitan area, considered the “little thumb” of this competition. “If we win, it will be an achievement,” Carmelo Scarna, the president of the Villeneuve-d’Ascq club, told us on Saturday. We don’t have the budgets of our opponents, but the girls are in commando operation and Fenerbahçe will have to be at their best to beat us. » Title holders, the Turks were notably buoyed by the 33 points and eight rebounds of the American Napheesa Collier and the 22 of the Belgian Emma Meesseman.
