Ufirst place in the group during the first phase of the Euroleague, a podium in the Women's League… Basket Landes is “on target” at the start of the season according to Basket Landes sports director Céline Dumerc. The former iconic Bourges player (2003-2009 then 2011-2016), whom the Landaises will face twice during this second phase of the Euroleague – which the French basketball legend has never won –, starting with l'espace François-Mitterrand this Wednesday (7:30 p.m.), looked back at the start of the season for the blue and white club and its ambitions for the rest of the season.
What assessment do you make of this start to the Basket Landes season?
We are in the nails. It's true that, when you start a season with a squad that has changed relatively little, you might think that it's continuity, that it's easy. Except that the other teams are strengthening and changing. There are some results which may be surprising, like Angers and Charnay (respectively 4th and 5th in the Women's League, tied with Basket Landes, Editor's note), which are off to a very good start to the season. If we focus on us, our three defeats, Charnay, Lyon and Montpellier, they are away. So, for me, we haven't made any missteps in the league yet.
And neither in the Euroleague. We are where we wanted to be. To qualify for a second round, to finish first in our group, it's huge. This new formula suits us, because we are capable of being irresistible at home. These small groups where we can make a difference like that, that suits us well.
“Staying competitive and remaining in control of your home is already something powerful”
Basket Landes already has several titles, but can we say that the club is reaching a milestone with this qualification for the second phase of the Euroleague?
I don't know if he's turning a corner, but he's already turned a corner. From the moment you become part of a logic where you win titles, three in three years (LFB champion in 2021 and double in the Coupe de France in 2022 and 2023), last year, we made two finals… Now, we are categorized, not as a “reference” club – I don’t really like the word because it’s too strong – but in any case as a club at the top of the table in the Women’s League. The championship is more and more homogeneous, there are fewer and fewer big players standing out. There are still some, but the gaps are closing. Staying competitive and remaining master of our home, in the LFB and the Euroleague, is already something strong. There is regularity at home, regularity in the ranking at the end of the season. For the play-offs, we put everything back into play. The daily results and what we do at home are a guarantee of stability.
From what perspective and with what ambition are you approaching this second phase of the Euroleague?
We approach it in a bit the same way as the first phase. That is to say that we will try to win the matches at home, plus the one against Brno (Tuesday December 17) away. That would guarantee us a good result. We would once again depend on the quality of the match that we would have on the road. But if we win all our games at home by ten and lose by nine away, we can find ourselves at the top. So we will continue to let ourselves be carried away by our audience and this enthusiasm that follows us at home. And if we can try to have these two victories over Brno, that would be great. This is a goal that would put us in a good position.
You will play a double confrontation against your former club Bourges. How do you approach it?
I want to say that this is becoming classic. Bourges is still at the top of the table, in the final phase… So, when you meet him, it means that you are in a good place. It's always special to play him, there's always this expectation. Bourges is a history of women's basketball, it is the most successful club. It's a real track record, whether in the championship or in the Euroleague. On both counts, historically, no one comes close to him. But we know that at François-Mitterrand, these are always complicated matches. Bourges lost here at the start of the season and we bother him every year, so we will continue with the same state of mind here. At the Prado, it's more difficult. In general, we tend to take spankings (laughs)! But it's going to be special. We can get tripped up, but whatever happens, it's always stimulating to play Bourges.
This Wednesday, it will not be the same Bourges team as during your victory (68-55) at the start of the season, notably with the return of Kariata Diaby. What does this change?
Their team has evolved since October. She played matches where she had time to set up her game by recovering Diaby. It's difficult for us to compare ourselves, because we have few movements, but we have still moved forward. We don't travel very well and, that's what I said with the players, we lack energy when we're away. We are so carried here by the public that, when we don't have that, we can't get this energy. We would have to manage to find the sixth player like we can have here. But this Wednesday, Bourges will be keen to show that the first match was a long time ago.
