EuroBasket Women 2009 audio after match comments Anaël Lardy believes that qualifying for the final is the highest honour in Europe with the senior team.
She explained it was not really possible to compare this qualification with that she had experienced as a youth international.
However it was a final and all the players would do everything possible for the best result.
Emméline Ndongue explained that they had come to qualify for the World Championship the following year and with having qualified for the final of EuroBasket Women 2009 they were almost there.
As for the match itself they did what they had to do also defensively in this game to keep shooting in the way they liked.
Elodie Godin has been nursing an injury and did not play in this match. Godin is back in the French team after two years' absence.
She is happy with the qualification for the World Championship after the victory in the quarter-final.
It had been a while that France had waited for this and for the players it was a magical moment.
She explained that she had already experienced defeat in the quarter-final of EuroBasket Women twice and it was frustrating, but of this day they were guaranteed a medal.
EuroBasket Women 2009 audio after match comments Becky Hammon speaks about the defensive pressure of the Spanish team and the performance of the big players with special mention for Maria Stepanova and her 16 rebounds.
She is looking forward to playing France in the EuroBasket Women final and Hammon concluded she had learnt a lot from the first match.
She would try and rest and maybe read a little bit.
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EuroBasket Women 2009 audio after match comments Dimitra Kalentzou had played well against the Slovak Republic before. She explained that she had to help her team in this important EuroBasket Women game.
She also said that physically they were tired with only 15 hours since the defeat against France. But the team had courage and so the victory was theirs.
Konstantinos Missas explained that he did not talk about the defeat against France.
At the the team meeting he told the team to be patient and play with their heart and that was why he believed they won this EuroBasket game.
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Pauline Krawczyk scored just after Emméline Ndongue won the tip-off with just four seconds on the game clock.
Sandrine Gruda then scored for France. But Belarus took the lead with back to back three-pointers from Natallia Marchanka.
Yelena Leuchanka scored twice for Belarus to complete a 7-0 run for her side to take an early lead (10-5) with four minutes played.
France got back on level terms (10-10) quickly after 2 points from Gruda and a three-point play from Ndongue (2+1).
The two teams traded baskets for the rest of the period (five minutes) as defense went out of the window with France holding on to the advantage (20-18).
The second period continued in the same way with both teams exchanging basket for basket.
With France leading (26-25) with a little over five minutes remaining in the quarter, Pierre Vincent was tired with the way his team was playing and called for a time-out.
The team talk worked wonders. France went on an 8-2 run that resulted in Anatoli Buyalski using up his second time-out with four minutes remaining before the interval.
The pace of the game never picked up and the game went through a dull period.
However an interesting battle between Isabelle Yacoubou-Dehoui from France and the Belarus duo of Anastasya Verameyenka and Leuchanka kept the contest interesting.
The quarter came to an end with an exchange of three-pointers, first Emmanuelle Hermouet for France and then Voiha Padabed for Belarus.
France went into the locker room leading (40-34).
Belarus kept it tight defensively and it took a three-pointer from Céline Dumerc to finally break it.
Belarus decided to got inside for their points while Dumerc hit her second trey of the quarter to keep France in the lead.
There were five minutes left to play in the quarter when Vincent called for a time-out (46-38).
France changed systems and within a twinkle of an eye had moved 15 points clear after Nwal-Endéné Miyem hit a trey as the 24-second clock buzzer went off.
France went into the final period leading (57-44).
The last quarter started slowly and became rough, with only 2 points scored from both sides during the first five minutes.
Padabed broke the dead lock with a trey for Belarus.
Katsiaryna Snytsina quickly added 3 more points for Belarus as she pushed Ndongue into fouling her while she was scoring.
Dumerc hit another trey with three minutes to go to give France a 12-point lead.
Then France paced themselves to victory (64-56)and a place in the EuroBasket Women's final.
Anaël Lardy believes that qualifying for the final is the highest honour in Europe with the senior team.
She explained it was not really possible to compare this qualification with that she had experienced as a youth international.
However it was a final and all the players would do everything possible for the best result.
Lima was to pick up 2 quick fouls but continued to battle with the big ladies from Russia. Yet she was unable to stop neither Maria Stepanova nor Ilona Korstin as Russia opened the game (9-4) after four minutes.
Spain reorganised themselves and started to hit their shots and drew level (13-13) with an Alba Torrens rainbow trey with 90 seconds remaining in the first period.
However on the very next attack, Stepanova hit a jump shop from the top of the key for the last score of the quarter (15-13).
The two teams battled it out for the last minute but were unable to score.
Spain decided to attack in the Russian defense. They drew level through Lucila Pascua who hit a couple of free-throws.
Laia Palau managed to get herself high above everybody to score for Spain to lead for the first time in the match (17-16).
Russia had just taken Hammon out of the game but Svetlana Abrosimova was on hand to hit a trey for Russia to take the lead.
They went on to miss 4 free-throws while Spain went on a 7-0 run with Amaya Valdemoro.
She scored the last 5 points as they led (24-19).
Russia continued to miss free-throws but still drew level (24-24) as Stepanova got the better of Laura Nicolls.
Stepanova scored her 13th point of the match with 90 seconds left to play for the last score of the second period which was enough to take Russia into the locker room leading (26-24).
Alba Torrens hit back to back three-pointers for Spain to briefly regain the lead in an action packed first three minutes of the third period.
However Stepanova continued to give Spain problems. Hence Lima had to go back on the bench after picking up her third foul.
Russia took control of the game with Osipova and Olga Arteshina scoring. But it was the 5 points from Hammon (43-36) that put Spain on the back foot.
Spain tried everything they could to score but they could not get past Stepanova.
The battle in the paint at both ends of the court was furious. The only points came from fast break counter attacks.
Russia survived even with Stepanova who had to rest after collecting personal foul number 3.
Russia went into the final period ahead (48-42).
Hammon went on a one-lady demolition show at the start of the final period with the first 5 points of the quarter and a total of 8 points in a 10-0 Russian run (58-42).
With Hammon running the show Russia’s lead grew (68-52) with her alone scoring 13 points for Russia.
Russia controlled the pace for the rest of the game with Hammon continuing to score.
Russia went on to win (77-61).
Becky Hammon speaks about the defensive pressure of the Spanish team and the performance of the big players with special mention for Maria Stepanova and her 16 rebounds.
She is looking forward to playing France in the EuroBasket Women final and Hammon concluded she had learnt a lot from the first match.
She would try and rest and maybe read a little bit.
Styliani Kaltsidou (left) came up with, what is becoming her trademark drive to the basket in-your-face lay-up, for Greece to lead (13-8).
Pokey Chatman from the Slovak Republic called the first time-out of the game. However nothing changed for her team as Greece extended their advantage (17-8) with 11 points coming from Durimitra Kalentzou.
Martina Gyurcsi ended the 8-0 run of Greece for the last score of the first period 40 seconds before the end of the first period.
Evanthia Maltsi fired a trey to the start the second quarter (the first trey of the game for Greece) which was the only action from Greece.
The Slovak Republic then went to work on bringing down the deficit. So Konstantinos Missas, the Greek head coach, called for a time-out after Katarina Tetemondová hit a three-pointer that reduced Greece's lead to 2 points (22-20).
The Slovak Republic drew level briefly through Gyurcsi but then suffered a 10-0 hammering from Greece as Maltsi (10 points in the second quarter) and Pelagia Papamichail turned on the turbo.
Gyurcsi scored the last 3 points of the quarter from the free-throw line to bring her personal total to 10 points. But Greece went into the locker room leading (32-25) at the interval.
The Slovak Republic started playing a pressing game at the start of the third period and outscored Greece (8-2) during the first five minutes of the third period.
It was only after Zuzana Zirková scored her first points of the game that the Greek head coach decided it was time for a time-out.
The flood gates suddenly opened with Kalentzou and Lucia Lásková trading three-pointers.
The Slovak Republic then went into the lead through Zirková and extended the advantage when Maltsi was called for an intentional foul on Gyurcsi.
Gyurcsi was in the thick of the action and fired in a trey for Slovak Republic to open their biggest lead of the game (45-39).
Greece's only points came from the free-throw line as the Slovak Republic went into the final quarter with a 7-point advantage (47-42).
The game became more physical at the start of the last period. The Slovak Republic decided to call a time-out after two scoreless minutes despite leading (47-44).
Maltsi (right) then tied the game for the fourth time with a shot from behind the arc. Greece regained the lead through Kalentzou who was also awarded a free-throw (49-47).
Both teams continued to trade baskets with the lead changing twice with the Slovak Repubic going ahead(53-52) with 3:47 to play in the fourth quarter.
Olga Chatzinikolaou managed to get the ball away from Zirková to score for Greece and take back the lead.
Kalentzou extended the Greek lead from the foul-line after taking a battering from three players while contesting a rebound.
Despite the efforts of Gyurcsi, Greece maintained the advantage with Maltsi connecting from the wing behind the arc (61-55).
The Slovak Republic had the chance to level the game but took too long in setting up the play. They failed to shoot the ball and the chance was gone.
Maltsi was fouled and made one more trip to the charity stripes for her 22nd and 23rd point of the game as Greece ended up winning (64-59).
Greece will pay in the fifth place EuroBasket Women match.
Dimitra Kalentzou had played well against the Slovak Republic before. She explained that she had to help her team in this important EuroBasket Women game.
She also said that physically they were tired with only 15 hours since the defeat against France. But the team had courage and so the victory was theirs.
Anete Jekabsone-Zogota opened the third period with trey. She followed this up with 2 points from the charity stripes.
First Masciadri fired in a trey for Italy. Then this was quickly followed by two free-throws by Jekabsone-Zogota for Latvia.
