The 2023-24 EuroLeague Women championship game is set, with defending champs Fenerbahçe Alagöz Holding taking on first-time finalist Villeneuve-d’Ascq LM on Sunday, April 14.
Here’s how the clubs earned the right to play for the continental crown:
Villeneuve-d’Ascq LM over ZVVZ USK Praha, 84-78
The French are the dark horse of the tournament in Mersin, Turkey, but they definitely didn’t start the game as if they were just happy to be there. Villeneuve-d’Ascq were up by six points after some stellar, confident shooting by Kamiah Smalls and Shavonte Zellous. With the score 21-16, Valeriane Ayayi, the French international playing for Praha, first got a four-point play (a 3-pointer and a foul) and then scored a layup. The game continued to be close and with two seconds left in the first quarter and the French up by two points, Tereza Vyoralova put Praha up for the first time in the game, 27-26, with a 3-pointer.
The second quarter wasn’t as high scoring, nor as visually pleasing, but it continued to be tight. Nyara Sabally, who came off the bench for Praha, used her unique combination of size, strength and ball handling to score eight points, simply bullying opponents underneath the basket. When the New York Liberty forward went back to the bench, her…
