The beautiful story of Tarbes continues. The TGB (7th in the regular season) got off to a good start this Thursday in the semi-finals of the Women’s League play-offs and won (67-62) at home and in the finish against Basket Landes (3rd).
In this formula with qualification on the cumulative total of the two matches, the margin remains narrow for the girls of coach François Gomez before the return match on Sunday at Mont-de-Marsan. But the place in the final, which would be a first since 2018, is within the ropes of this team built around young French players, like the playmaker Carla Leite (20 years old) who was still impeccable this Thursday (17 points, 9 assists, 6 caused fouls and 40 minutes of play) and the pivot Dominique Malonga (18 years old).
In this series match, Leite (1.75 m) allowed TGB to stay in contact at the break with a three-point shot at the half-time buzzer (35-37). Tarbes, who had eliminated Bourges (2nd in the regular season) in the quarter-finals, even regained a nine-point lead in the third quarter before a new Landes reaction.
Alexis Peterson’s teammates (13 points) even regained control as money time approached (60-58) but Dominique Malonga (8 points, 8 rebounds), essential in the last minutes, put Tarbes back in the lead. common sense. The young international pivot converted, after an offensive rebound, an attack from Marie-Paule Foppossi (13 points) nine seconds from the end to force success.
Basket Landes, winner of Asvel – the reigning champion – in the quarter-finals, lost 19 balls and shot 3 out of 16 at three points and therefore knows his axis of offensive progression for the return to his room on Sunday where the victory will be won the ticket to the final. This will be played in the best of three rounds (May 11, 17 and possibly 19).
Solo rider of Villeneuve-d’Ascq
In the other semi-final, Villeneuve-d’Ascq, finalist of the Euroleague and first in the regular season of the Women’s League, devoured Lattes-Montpellier in its home room (95-64). The Northerners were never worried and already had a 16-point lead (25-9) after ten minutes. They maintained their stranglehold in the second quarter (47-28 at the break) and consolidated their collective superiority in the second half to take flight (74-43, 31st) without ever weakening towards a success which ensures them a great part of the ticket for the final, a year after the defeat against Asvel.
Against the BLMA, the ESBVA of Kamiah Smalls (23 points at 6 of 7 from three points, 5 rebounds, 5 assists) won its thirteenth success in a row in the Women’s League by shooting at 51% with a remarkable 15 on 35 three-pointers and 24 assists. Janelle Salaün was also very effective (13 points, 11 rebounds) while US reinforcement Keisha Hampton, who replaces Kennedy Burke, the LFB regular season MVP who left for the WNBA, made a good debut with 12 points in 18 minutes .
Lattes-Montpellier shot a low 34% two-point success rate (31% in total). “It’s a nice pill… It’s frustrating not to show what we can do. We have to fight until the end and show another face,” commented the international leader of the BLMA, Romane Bernies, at the microphone of the broadcaster, Sport en France.
