The Czech Republic went close at EuroBasket 2003 but settled for silver.

Now they look determined to finish the job after opening their 2005 campaign with a 65-45 destruction of France.

In what was supposed to be a battle of title contenders, the Czechs blew away Les Bleues in the fourth quarter.

France trailed by as many as nine points (26-17) in the second quarter and found themselves behind 29-22 at half-time.

But Alain Jardel's team battled, and closed to within one at 36-35 with one minute and 50 seconds to play in the third quarter.

Michaela Pavlickova buried a jump shot and Petra Kulichova added two baskets down low to stretch the lead to 42-35 at the end of the period and France caved in.

They cut the deficit to five, but then watched as the Czechs turned their game up a notch and rolled to a decisive victory.

Hana Machova provide much of the inspiration on offence in the first half when she scored all 14 of her points, and Eva Viteckova also finished with 14 to pace the Czechs.

Jana Vesela played her usual solid game, doing much of the dirty work by grabbing 10 rebounds to go with her six points. Kulichova also hauled down 10 boards. The tireless Czechs out-rebounded France 42-34.

The French had a nightmare shooting the ball, making an abysmal 25% of their shots. They were 14 of 56 (25%) inside the arc and two of eight (25%) beyond it.

Jardel's team even struggled at the free throw line, making just 11 of 18 (61%).

There is no longer any Lucie Blahushkova for the Czech Republic. She was their star and the MVP of the EuroBasket in Greece two years ago when Jan Bobrovsky's team went unbeaten before falling to Russia in the final.

But the Czech women, despite having their own shooting problems at times (21/58 2-point field goals) found the extra gear they needed to accelerate away from a French team that is hoping to rekindle the glory year of 2001 when they won the European crown as hosts.

Cathy Melain, a member of that team, led France with nine points and eight rebounds. There is much work to be done if France are to have a serious shot at glory this year.

Alain Jardel (Head Coach France):

The Czech team is very strong and a good team. They played very well and deserved to win. I’m sorry, the loser is not one player, it is the whole team. Tomorrow we’ll try to play better as a team.

Celine Dumerc (France):

We may have lost today but tomorrow will be another game. This is a tournement and we have lost only one game. I couldn’t play well because of my injury but tomorrow I hope I’ll play better.

Jan Bobrovsky (Head Coach Czech Republic):

We did our play on defense. We made it hard. We are happy to win by 20 against such a good team like France but we cannot forget that this was the first game. We must keep on playing hard and strong. We did good job on defense. I congratulate my team.

Zuzana Klimesova (Czech Republic):

I agree with my coach’s opinions. Nothing to add. The main factor by winning is playing as a team. We keep on the playing like team like the last championship but this time we don’t want to lose in the final.