EXCLUSIVE Interview with Soana Lucet

We catch up a few moments with Soana Lucet (187-C-87), the leader of the New Caledonia national team. She led her team to the Bronze medal in the FIBA Oceania Youth Tournament and was voted as Oceania All-Stars. A great end to a fantastic season. She's now thinking of moving overseas to pursue a pro career. We would like to thank her for taking the time to do the interview. She is the best player in New Caledonia (she scored 45pts in a Territorial Finals game with AS6km) and was one of the best player of the FIBA Oceania Youth Tournament, she averaged 20.7pts 44.4%FG 13.2rbs 2.3ast 3.8bs and 2.5st per game. She holds a french passport and is elligible to play in College basketball. If you want to contact her, please send email at ggerard@eurobasket.com.

Soana Lucet
187cm Center
Born in 1987

With New Caledonia NT:
2006: FIBA Oceania Youth Tournament - Bronze medal
2005: South-Pacific Mini-Games - Bronze medal
2004: FIBA Oceania Youth Tournament - 6th place
FIBA Oceania All-Stars in 2004 and 2006

With AS6km:
2006: South Province & Territorial champion
2005: South Province champion & Caledonia Cup
2004: South Province champion


Hello Soana and congratulations for your performances in the FIBA Oceania Youth Tournament. What was the highlight of your week in Auckland?
The best moment was when we defeated Fiji by only three points (63-60 in pool NDLR), i was so excited taht I couldn't believe it. That was such a tough game, we wanted the win as much as they did. You know Fiji is a great teal and beign able to defeat them was an honour et we were very proud.

You made some great games against the fijians (33pts and 41pts), were you more motivated to play against them?
I'm motivated against every oppoenents and i'm always giving my best but I knew Fiji was the only team able to beat us for the Bronze medal so that's why I wanted to do my best against them.

In the pool phase, you lost only by 22 against New Zealand, any regrets?
I wish i could say no but there is still some regrets. That was our first game and we made some mistakes, i'm sure the girls will be more experienced in 2008 and won't make the same mistakes. At the beginning of the game, I thought we would have been able to defeat them but I was wrong.

In semifinals, you were dominated by Australia. What do you think of this team made of 1990-born players? Which australian player was the most impressive?
You have to remember that Australia is the World champion, we knew that they were the best team of the tournament. Our coach told us that if they had a large lead at the end of the first quarter, we should used the game to prepare the Bronze medal game, because that medal was our great goal. One of the australian was really impressive by her size, I think she was 2 meter tall (Elizabeth Cambage, 203cm, NDLR). But all the players were great, they had a great defense and great level of play.

You are now the best Pacific country ahead Fijij and your rivals, Tahiti. Are you proud of that?
Two years ago, those teams were in front of us and we were ranked at the 6th spot. So of course we are proud, our team played together and we proved that we were able to reach the podium. When we left for New Zealand, nobody believed in our chances but we proved them wrong.

You were one of the best player of the tournament, did you get any<