France come from behind to stun Czech Republic 71-68 – Second Half Breakdown: Olympics Women Basketball
After the first half there wasn’t anything to separate France and the Czech Republic in the last game of the quarterfinal stage but the game soon turned into a spectacle.
With the scores level at 28, the start of the third quarter saw the Czech’s come out very strongly. They opened up the proceedings with a 10-0 run which started on a deuce from Ilona Burgrova and ended with back to back triples
from Eva Viteckova.
It took 2 minutes and 18 seconds for the French to open their scoring accounts in the second half with a deuce from Sandrine Gruda. At that point the Czechs had already pushed their lead into double figures. Gruda’s shot was followed
by three consecutive free throws from Viteckova to give her side an 11 point lead.
From the 5:41 mark till the 5:05 mark team, France scored four unanswered points, but the Czechs responded with five quick points of their own. In the third stanza, Czech outscored France 23-13 to take a 10 point lead into the
final quarter of the game.
Staring at a 10 point hole and an abrupt exit from the London Olympics, the French team entered the court all charged up in the final quarter and were led by their inspirational guard Celine Dumerc. Prior to the fourth quarter,
Dumerc had only 13 points in the game but the player erupted for 10 points in the final stanza to engineer a superb comeback.
France started the final quarter on a 9-4 run and at the 5:19 mark of the final period, Dumerc connected from long range to cut the lead down to only two points. In the next few minutes, the Czechs tried their best to stay ahead
in the game but two successful French free throws at the 3:22 mark put them in a one point deficit.
Burgrova knocked down a deuce to snatch the lead right back for the Czechs but Dumerc was having none of that as she knocked down a triple to hand France a two point lead, one which they never relinquished. In the last few minutes
of the contest, French held their nerve from the free throw line to come away winners and secure a semi-final berth against Russia.
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