Basket Landes remained on four consecutive successes in all competitions, its host, the BLMA, had stopped a series of three consecutive failures a week earlier in Tarbes. But in this duel between teams contending for the play-offs at the end of the season, victory went to the Héraultaises, at the end of a certainly defensive match (52-39). An indisputable result, since the players of Julie Barennes, who fell from the podium with this setback – the third in a row away from home – but remain one point behind the trio of leaders Bourges-Angers-Charnay, did not lead for a second in these debates.
A slightly messy game, two faults punishing Destiny Slocum very quickly, the start was painful and we had to wait a little over two minutes before captain Clarince Djaldi-Tabdi – the only Landeswoman to have reached the ten-point mark – n inaugurates the score for the blue and white club, before repeating with a second long distance shot to get back on the scoreboard (6-6, 4th).
Address at half mast
The ultimate parity of this poster which will not have kept all its promises, the fault in particular of this fatigue suffered in the middle of the week during the European games where Basket Landes, to be credited with a historic victory against the Italians of Schio (68 -59) with a first place in the group, certainly gave up more strength en route than Lattes-Montpellier, at ease in a Eurocup group at a much lower level (six victories).
Despite Marie Pardon's revolt in the third quarter, Basket Landes never managed to come back to the score.
GIACOMO ITALIANO / PHOTOPQR/LE MIDI LIBRE
But the Landes technician did not want to take refuge behind this single argument: “Yes, we leave more gas than Montpellier in the European Cup. We know it, but we can't be satisfied with that either. We are competing in the Euroleague, so we have to take responsibility for it. We missed too many easy things. » By multiplying the rotations, Julie Barennes became aware that a major five did not stand out… Unlike the BLMA Gazelles who, on the basis of an 11-0 straddling the first two quarters, were propelled from 11-10 to 22-10 (12th). On the Landes side, the skill remained with François-Mitterrand (12/59 shooting, 20% skill over the entire match!), part of the legs and inspiration too.
And as in the first quarter, we had to wait almost three minutes and two throws from a former Latto-Montpellier player, Myriam Djekoundade, to stop the series (22-12, 13th), but these seven minutes without registering a single point were going necessarily make an impression. Between the very aggressive defense of Lattes-Montpellier and a touch of bad luck on this day without, Basket Landes returned to the locker room 15 lengths behind (34-19, 20th).
A vain hope
It was necessary for something to click, but the delicate start to the second half on the offensive level was not the best sign of encouragement for the Landaises, stuck at 19 points scored, when the BLMA, more solid than brilliant, increased the gap (40-19, 24th). Too many bad choices in attack, lost balls (13 at the end of the third quarter), the problem was there. Then a winning success from Sixtine Macquet extended by points from Marie Pardon and Clarince Djaldi-Tabdi would initiate a 14-0 for the protégés of Julie Barennes, for a return to 40-33 (30th) despite the time-out requested by Valéry Demory to cut the momentum.
Everything remained really playable for the Landaises… Well, until this 8-0 conceded at the start of the last period on two winning shots from Romane Berniès and Elodie Naigre (48-33, 32nd). Leïla Lacan's partners still could not find the solution offensively (six points scored in the last quarter) and the game was over (52-39).
Basket Landes had no right to be disappointed given the face displayed and will have to get back on track at home, Sunday December 8, during the reception of the French champion Villeneuve-d'Ascq to stay the course.
Reaction
Julie Barennes (Basketball Landes coach): “When we came back in the third quarter (from 40-19 to 40-33, Editor’s note), yes, we believed in it, we pushed a little, we defended harder… But we didn’t take a shot ( 20.3% skill over the entire match). We cannot win in Montpellier with 39 points. At some point, you have to be able to take the shots, which was not the case this Sunday for various reasons. There isn't just one parameter to explain it, fatigue, a bit of bad luck, missed shots… It's not a setback, we had already lost here last year so it's not a problem. It's no surprise. The question was whether we would be able to answer and we didn't! I looked for solutions, a little freshness within my large workforce, and I had difficulty finding it. Not a single player managed to get us out of the situation, on the post-up, nothing, on the counter-attack, nothing, on the 3-point shot, nothing… We put a little boost (in the third quarter), we should have been able to hold it. At -7, we played like it was the end of the world, we sent balls everywhere. The 8-0 at the start of the fourth quarter hurt us. »
