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Saint Jacques Sport still in the Coupe de FranceThe coaches from Calais and Reims spoke before the Coupe de France tie. They both agreed of its importance to prepare for the rest of the season. You can listen to the comments below:  Sauret's Coupe de France comments before the match are in French.(Note: If you are using Internet Explorer click twice on the triangle)
(Note: If you are using Internet Explorer click twice on the triangle) Allyson Hardy hurt her ankle during the week and was not able to play in this match, which restricted the COB Calais roster to seven players. Vanessa Candelier and Pauline Machu were playing for the Espoir team in the Amateur French Cup, hence not available. For a cup match the opening quarter was rather tame. Both sides played cautiously with a player to player defence. This made it difficult for the inside players from either team to do any damage in the paint. Anne-Sophie Pagnier and Anne-Marie Parau enjoyed the extra space on the outside and scored 15 of their side's 22 points in the first period.
Calais went on the attack at the start of the second period and scored 4 quick points on turnovers from their opponents. Calais then lost the advantage by another turnover allowing Manon Sinico and Mia Fisher to score back to back baskets for Reims (26-21). Cyril Sicsic called the first time-out of the match as he required to settle his players. The minute break worked well as Csaszar was quick off the mark to score for Calais. Philippe Sauret noticed the difficulties his players had in containing Csaszar. He continued to change her markers. The game then became stale and it was the turn of Reims to use a time-out. Afterwards Reims began to run the ball more as the guards took over control of the match. Despite Reims monopolising the ball, Calais remained in touch with a trey from Csaszar (34-29).
Lucie Bouthors (left) from Calais was turned and twisted by Parau. She eventually had to leave her place for Aurélie Cibert. Reims were able to turn their bench continuously keeping the players fresh while stretching their lead at the interval (37-29). Fisher sparking a Reims run with a shuffleWith a Fisher shuffle leaving Perrine Le Leuch on the floor got her side going. This was the start of a "Fisher show" as she scored 7 points, made 1 steal and took 3 rebounds (44-33) before going off for a break.Mame Sy and Marie-Laure Fleury-Kindoki extended the advantage for the ladies from Saint Jacques (48-36). Stéphanie Blanquart gave Reims their biggest lead before Calais (50-36) came storming back. Bouthors was to score 7 unanswered points including a buzzer beater lay-up to come back to (50-43). Lina Brazdeïkyte coming up with some vintage movesCalais switched to zone in the final period as they attempted to reduce the deficit. Parau found her range from the 3-point land to temporally put Reims back in control. Lina Brazdeïkyte then came up with a couple of moves that rolled the clock back as Calais came to within 4 points (53-57). Zuzanna Klimesova came back on to guide her players through with her clever movement around the courts. By the time she returned to the bench (64-56), Reims appeared to have control. Dia from Calais had other ideas and fought for every ball bringing her side back. By the time Brazdeïkyte intercepted a poor pass to score and picked up the foul Calais were back (64-63). Dia again was decisive with a block interception and a pass off to Le Leuch who was then fouled. She made 1 of 2 from the foul line (68-65). Fisher was then called for a blocking foul on Brazdeïkyte who held her nerve from the free-throw line (68-67). Reims had the last play of the game and managed to circulate the ball long enough to finally give the ball to Fisher. She was fouled on her drive to the basket, made the first free-throw and missed the second. Mame Sy collected the rebound ending Calais' chance of one last attempt. Reims made hard work of the victory in the end but with no player playing more than 27 minutes, none of them should be too tired for tomorrow's match. Parau and Fisher played the most for Reims and led the scoring with 17 and 14 points respectively. Whereas for Calais Dia top scored with 17 points and was joined in double figures by Brazdeïkyte and Csaszar with 15 and 13 points respectively. On another note the COB Calais Espoir have qualified for the quarter-final of the Trophée Coupe de France (Amateur French Cup). This weekend we are working together with Basquetebol.org to give this historic event full coverage. You will be able to find French match reports for games played in Metz by following this link. More information on Basquetebol.org will be published during the next few days. Coupe de France after match commentsSauret explained that the problem at the end of the match was due to lack of confidence. But it was nothing to worry about because the objective for today was to win without exhausting themselves before tomorrow's game. The overall objective was to qualify for the final of the Coupe de France.
He also said that it was normal in such situations for opponents to come back and try and steal the game.(Note: If you are using Internet Explorer click twice on the triangle)
(Note: If you are using Internet Explorer click twice on the triangle) Coupe de France quarter-final preview COB Calais player pictures for the Coupe de France are courtesy of the Ligue Féminine de BasketBall Date: 23 March 2008
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Sicsic's comments before the match are in French.
Mariame Dia (left) was active for Calais with 6 quick points as she was initially the only one able to break the Reims' defence early on. Andrea Csaszar's introduction for Calais changed the whole dynamics of the game as her presence stopped Reims from running riot (22-17).
A time-out was called by Reims. The pace of the game increased as the battle of the guards started.
Marie-Laure Kindoki-Fleury expects the semi-final to be more physical than the match just played whoever the opponents. She also explained that losing to Calais in the league, they knew what to expect and prepared for this match seriously. The preparation and the fact that they also had a full bench helped.
