Unfortunately, they showed a completely different face.
The day after its convincing opening victory against Australia (70-57), the French women's basketball team tripped over the mat during its second match at the World Cup, heavily beaten by Canada on Friday at Sydney (59-45).
Les Bleues, out of skill (31% shooting success, 3/19 from three points) thus miss a great opportunity to get closer to the quarter-finals before facing Mali on Sunday (06:30 French).
In Group B, they let the Canadians take the lead with two victories and find themselves neck and neck with Serbia, Japan and Australia if they beat Mali in the evening, which would correspond to sporting logic.
“Sometimes there is nothing that fits”
“It was a collective effort that we couldn't reproduce, we had a significant lack of skill and we couldn't find an alternative.
Sometimes it falls in, sometimes there is nothing that goes in, regrets the leader of the Blue, Marine Fauthoux.
We have to stay focused on our objective, which is to qualify.
We must not tell ourselves that we have lost everything.
There was no relaxation.
We wanted to continue, to show that we are solid.
We wanted to win every game.
We didn't get our heads together after yesterday (Editor's note: Thursday).
»
After experiencing a huge air gap between the end of the first period and the start of the second (0-17, from 17-20 to 17-37), the French lost with a significant gap which canceled out the difference in favorable points acquired after the success against the Australians.
In the event of a tie between more than two teams, the latter will be decided by the general difference in points.
Only one Frenchwoman above 10 points
Is it fatigue?
The contrast compared to the day before, with stands this time almost empty?
Jean-Aimé Toupane's players were in any case only the shadow of the team that brought down the Australian host.
🏀 #FRACAN
🏆 Jean-Aimé Toupane: "We weren't in it at all, a lot of things were missed" pic.twitter.com/as4Z1HlpTj
— beIN SPORTS (@beinsports_FR) September 23, 2022
They thus experienced a huge loss in shooting, which they failed to catch up by taking offensive rebounds (19 Canadian shots), and lost too many balls (14).
On an individual level, Gabby Williams shone less than against the Opals (13 pts against 23) and was too little supported: no other player passed the 10 point mark (7 points each for Alexia Chartereau and Marine Fauthoux).
