Sandrine Gruda was the most glaring omission from Pierre Vincent's 20-strong France women's preliminary squad that was announced on Monday.

Gruda has preferred to play in the WNBA this summer instead of making herself available for Les Bleues' EuroBasket Women 2009 qualifying campaign.

Pierre Vincent has enjoyed plenty of highs this season with Bourges but he suffered a couple of lows at the EuroLeague Women Final Four.

The French giants, who rebounded from a 1-4 start to finish second in their Qualifying Round Group before sweeping both MKB Euroleasing and Fenerbahce in the play-offs, suffered an overtime defeat to hosts Gambrinus and then lost to a buzzer-beating three-ball by Caroline Aubert of UMMC Ekaterinburg in the third-place game.