France Edges Lithuania In Last Minute

LITHUANIA 55 -  FRANCE 57

The whole first quarter was about Trading. Isabelle Yacobou entered in the second half of the quarter and she scored 6 of the 8 last points of her team which ended the first ahead, 15-14, after a jump shot from Florence Lepron.

France struggled in the offense in the second in front of a Lithuanian defense that controlled the paint and in the offense they had an outstanding Agne Ciudarene who lead the team and scored 15 pts in the quarter. Celine Dumerc made it 25-21 after 3:!5 of Trading but then France suffered a 6-0 run that put Lithuania with double digit margin, 31-21 with 4:40 minutes remaining leading Pierre Vincent to call time out. Then the game went down under where  Emmeline Ndongue and Sandrine Gruda  counteracted  Agne Ciudarene's 4 pts with 4 and 2 pts respectively, with Lithuania leading at the interval 36-27.

France got into six pts, 36-30, early in the third but received another 6-0 run started by Gintare Petronyte and capped by back to back baskets from Sandra Valuzyte to make it 42-30 for Lithuania after 3:50. From then on France improved on defense and traded actions with Lithuania,  not letting them to reach the double digit margin again and stopping Ciudarene  to reach the fourth trailing 48-42 after a basket from Emmeline Ndongue.

Sandrine Gruda made it 48-44, with two freebies at the beginning of the fourth. Ausra Bimbaite gave air to Lithuania with a 2+1 play on the ensuing possession, 51-44. France scored five straight points then .a trey from Dumerc and a jumper from Emile Gomís- to give Lithuania a first warning closing the gap to two points, 51-49 after 3:20 in the fourth. Bimbaite kept Lithuania ahead counteracting the French pursuit. Anyway both teams struggled offensively in that moment. Bimbaite made ir 55-51 with 2:36 remaining and Vincent called time out.
Lithuania won't score again.

Emmanuelle Hermouet hit the three right after the timeout to put Lithuania into 1 and 1:47 remaining, 55-54, and Rutenis Paulauskas team went down. None of the teams would score in the next minute barely concealing their nerves. Sandrine Gruda finally turn the score upside down making it, 55-56, for France. Lithuania turn the ball over in their offensive and Gruda herself closed the score from the free-throw line splitting to make it 57-55. Lithuania would turn the ball over again and also the chance of winning the game.

Sandrine Gruda had 18 pts and 7 boards for France and Celine Dumerc 7 pts, 9 rebounds and 8 assists. France out-rebounded Lithuania 41-34.
In Lithuania Agne Ciudarene had 17 pts, Ausra Bimbaite 15 and 7 boards and Sandra Valuzyte 10 pts.