France hold nerve to edge out Canada 64-60 – London Olympics Women Basketball Recap
France’s women basketball team moved one step closer to qualifying for the next round by defeating Canada 64-60 in a thrilling game. The game, played on Wednesday, was one of the most competitive games of the Olympics so far, with
France carving out a victory in the final minutes.
Emilie Gomis scored a team high 16 points for France, going 6 of 8 from the field and a perfect 4 of 4 from the free throw line. She led three other French players in double figure points.
Shona Thorburn scored a game high 17 points, 4 rebounds and 3 assists, but her efforts were not enough to prevent Canada from suffering their first loss of the tournament.
Both teams started off well and seemed to be in good rhythm, matching play for play as they competed for the lead and control of the game.
Canada were able to cut the deficit after France opened up a 7 point lead early in the quarter. A two point shot by Thorburn followed by two free throws by Lizanne Murphy had Canada trailing the French side by one point at the
end of the first period, 12-13.
After a couple of lead exchanges early in the second period, France once again ran away with a 23-16 lead on the back of an 8-0 run. Canada missed 7 consecutive field goals during the 8-0 run by France. However, they came back
once again with 5 straight points to reduce the deficit to 21-23.
Alisha Tatham scored on one of two free throw attempts to tie the score at 25 in the final minute of the period, but Sandrine Gruda was able to land a free throw followed by a buzzer beating two point shot to give France a 28-25
lead at the end of the first half.
France extended their lead to 38-31 early in the third period, but Canada scored the final 5 points of the period and edged back into the game, cutting the deficit to only 2 points with the final quarter left to play. The scores
being 42-20.
France scored 4 quick points to open the final period and stretched their lead to 6 points. They held on to the lead for the rest of the period even though Canada remained on their tail throughout.
It was a great show of nerve and experience by the French side, who made critical plays to remain ahead for the entire final period. France led 50-43 at one point, but Canada made it a two point game by scoring 5 points within
a span of seconds.
With less than 10 ticks left in the game and France leading by only two points, Celine Dumerc was fouled and scored on both free throws to seal the victory for France.
Dumerc finished with 10 points and 5 rebounds for France, including a 6 of 6 performance from the free throw line. Isabelle Yacoubou scored 14 points for France, going 6 of 8 from the field. Natalie Achonwa finished with 14 points
and 8 rebounds for Canada.
France shot 46.2% from the field as compared to 35.4% for Canada, and were 16 of 18 from the foul line. Surprisingly, no team was able to score a shot from beyond the arc from a combined 16 attempts.
It was a tough contest and France only managed to come through owing to a great shooting performance from the foul line. They now lead Group B with three wins from three games.
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