Lyon win thriller of opposite halves

LDLC ASVEL Feminin - Sopron Basket 62-59 (7-16, 8-15, 18-12, 29-16)
Lyon

LDLC ASVEL Feminin: Tanqueray 16/9, Salagnac -, Plouffe 14/12, Badiane 8, Ciak 2 Sub.: Johannes 13/6, Dos Santos 7, Turcinovic 2, Chabrier -

Sopron Basket: Fegyverneky 4, Weninger -, Crvendakic 18/6, Brooks 13/3, Jovanovic 7 Sub.: Határ 11, Dubei 6/6

Stats

FGS: 23/61 38% ill. 23/58 40%

3-PTS: 9/24 38% ill. 6/17 35%

FTS: 7/11 64% ill. 7/11 64%

Rebounds: 37 (Badiane 11) ill. 38 (Crvendakic 8)

Assists: 17 (Badiane 5) ill. 18 (Fegyverneky 8)

Steals: 9 (Dos Santos 3) ill. 7 (Jovanovic 3)

Turnovers: 16 ill. 18

Faults: 14 ill. 16

EFF: 71 (Plouffe 20) ill. 67 (Crvendakic 22)

Aleks got the game going with a lay-up, to which the hosts immediately answered back with a corner three. Tina managed to equalize with a free throw, and then Aleks hit a corner three to give us the lead, to which we held on until the middle of the period (5th minute 5-8). In the next couple of minutes neither side was able to kick it up a notch, but we were the first to put an end to the scoring drought, and increased our lead to five (7th minute 5-10). What's more, in the final moments of the first stage we were able to switch gears and pull even further away, flirting with a double-digit advantage at the end of the first ten minutes (10th minute 7-16).


Plouffe opened the second part of the game with a triple, to which Jeca answered back likewise forcing Lyon's first time-out (12th minute 10-19). The home side were unable to keep her from scoring, she added four more to her total. We were on a 9-3 scoring run when Badiane converted two free throws causing Dávd Gáspár to call his team to the bench to talk things over (12-25). His words proved effective, because we finished the first half in a commanding double-digit lead allowing only 15 points to Lyon in the entire half (20th minute 15-31).


The third quarter began with a triple by Debi, to which Ciak answered back from inside the paint, and then Aleks made two free thows. After that Lyon seemed to catch rhythm, they put seven points on the scoreboard unanswered, forcing our next time-out in the game (24th minute 24-36). Jeca hit a double after the short pause, to which Tanqueray reacted from behind the arc. However, after that Zsófi came up with a triple of her own from the corner. In the remainder of the quarter the sides were matched well, but Lyon managed to come closer to us keeping their hopes alive for the rest of the game (30th minute 33-43).


Dos Santos and Jeca exchanged buckets to get the final stage of the game going, and then Betti made a lay-up off a great assist by Zsófi (32nd minute 35-47). Zsófi was dishing out assists left and right in this period, she gave another one to Aleks for three, and then Dos Santos struck twice for doubles. With a little less than six minutes on the game clock Lyon managed to reduce the gap between the sides to eight points with a basket by Tanqueray (35th minute 44-52). A bit later Johannes made a lay-up and with that Lyon came back to a single possession deficit, but then Betti came up with a three-point play to get things back on track for us (49-55). With two and a half minutes in the game Johannes buried a triple to reduce the gap to a single point, forcing our next time-out (57-58). What's more, with two successful free throws the French managed to tie the game up for the first time since the beginning of the first period (59-59), and then they even took over the lead with a double – time-out Sopron (61-59). In the final seconds Lyon made one more free throw to increase their lead to three and we were not able to hit a three to tie it and force overtime (40th minute 62-59).

Dávid Gáspár: Congratulations to Lyon, they came back from a big deficit! On one hand I am proud of the girls for creating the chance to win, which is a big thing to do anywhere in the Euroleague, especially in France. On the other hand I am sad because in the end we lost the game. We have made bad decisions in key situations in the last period. We lacked focus, got tired and to be honest we have to say that Lyon did a great job, they scored 29 points in these 10 minutes. This loss hurts badly, because we let a game that was there for us to take slip out of our hands.

Aleksandra Crvendakic: It is hard to say anything in times like this. I think we lost a game that we had the chance to win. We lost focus on offense and on defense, we couldn't make shots. I am sad because we are not such a strong team that we could afford to lose focus even for a couple of minutes. We gave Lyon a chance to come back and they took it! Congratulations to them for that!