Arrival from Lyon this summer, the former French international will stop his career at the end of the season. A season that she could end in style for her first, and alone, year at the TGB.
When Isabelle tells you about the TGB project last year, when joining the club, did you imagine yourself in the championship final a year later?
Not at all, no. Afterwards, I’m not going to say that I told myself that it was impossible, but necessarily, when we sign in Tarbes, it is a little less possible than when you sign in clubs like Lyon or even Bourges. It was not the first thing that went through my head by signing here. Honestly, I did not expect to be in the final a few months later.
So we can say that it is a successful bet for you?
Clearly yes, more than successful. When I start the season, I always want to win, but clearly, it’s a successful bet and I do not regret having joined the TGB.
You will stop your career at the end of the season to go to the administrative side at the TGB. Will this last epic not leave you regrets?
Not at all, no. On the contrary, I think that the bitter taste, I would have had it if I had to finish after a season like in Lyon, where it had ended strangely. It was not a fluid season. I imagined myself going to the end when I signed in Lyon. It would have left me a bitter taste to stop after Lyon. But this year, precisely, I tell myself that finishing in style, that’s exactly what I want. My father always liked to say to me: “You have to treat his exit. »»
Your release, precisely, can be a title after a complicated season. How do we go from a series of seven consecutive defeats to a French championship final?
I don’t think there was a particular click. I think it’s just that we never stopped working and that we never gave up. Even when we were in the galley, we have always continued to work. It was very morally complicated, we got a few slaps in the head, we learned from these situations and we managed to reverse the trend.
You are in full confidence by your career. Finally, would you not be a favorite on this final?
I wouldn’t say that we are favorite. I would say it is Basket Landes who has this favorite status, just by the constancy they had during the season. They showed more regularity than us. Now we saw that this favorite status, that didn’t mean much. It is the reality on the ground that takes precedence, and we will just have to play our basketball.
These matches with Basket Landes are always special. How did you get ready?
Camille, Jess-Mine and Nancy told us about the games of last year, of the championship semi-final but also of the Coupe de France. We really feel that it’s a separate match. We know that it is a particular derby.
Personally, for three games, you have come out of the bench. How did you adapt to this new role?
I live it very well. I have no worries with starting the meeting on the bench. For me, the goal is to win the matches, maybe the best combination. Whether I play 5 minutes or play 30, the important thing for me is victory. There is no different approach to me because of starting on the bench. When I come back to the field, I don’t ask myself more questions than that, I try to do what I can do. The advantage is that we are 10 and that each, we want to bring, whether we are on the bench or holder.
You have lost the two games 1 at home. Is there a little voice that encourages you to lose that one to keep the dynamics?
(laughs) I am not superstitious. Now I am of opinion to take what there is to take. What is taken is no longer to be taken and it is above all necessary to remember that the two games we lost, we were gone to win them, so we must have the same state of mind. Because Basket Landes will come with the firm intention to win this match too.
