Hainaut Basket leave the bottom of
the LFB table for the first time

LFB round 16 turned into a celebration evening for American players as they topped the scoring in many games. At the same time with Montpellier losing for just the second time this season, the race for the regular season title opened up.

Hainaut Basket moved off the bottom of the LFB regular season standings for the first time this season after beating current leaders Lattes Montpellier (66-60) in a match that had 19 lead changes and 13 ties.

Hainaut Basket used just six players in this game: Laura Garcia (10 points), Ashley Houts (14 points), Amanda Jackson (12 points), Ify Ibekwe (17 points and 11 rebounds), Petra Stampalija (11 points and 9 assists) and Marie-Frédérique Ayissi (2 points).

Lattes Montpellier had a full roster available with the return of Kristen Mann but were unable to impose despite holding the lead for more than 20 minutes during the game. They also failed in taking advantage in the rebound statistic. Ana Lelas was the only player in double digits with 12 points while Géraldine Robert had 10 rebounds and 8 points.

Despite the defeat Lattes Montpellier are still two games clear at the top of the regular season standings.

The writing was on the wall for Arras before the end of the first quarter with the American Cathy Joens  (in picture) from Bourges Basket  already on 10 points.

Bourges Basket edged the first quarter (20-8) and then paced themselves to a comfortable victory (74-45). Joens hit 6-from-7 shots from behind the three-point line and finished with a game high 26 points. 

Greek international Styliani Kaltsidou was the only other player from Bourges in double digits with 11 points. Olesia Malashenko also had 11 points for Arras.

Cécile Piccin will hand over the reigns of Arras' head coach to Marc Silvert before their next game.

19-year old Emma Meesseman has already made the transition from an excellent youth player into a solid professional player.

She is not going to have any problems playing in any professional league in the world and we at womensbasketball-in-france.com expect that she get picked up during the WNBA draft in April.

She scored 20 points for Villeneuve d'Ascq in their important road victory against Aix-en-Provence (86-79). 

However it was the shooting from behind the three-point line by Lenae Williams (20 points) and the passing of Bintou Diémé (9 assists and 16 points) that helped them to overcome their hosts. Cayla Francis was the leading scorer for the hosts with 20 points.

The rest of the news from round 16 of the
Ligue Féminine de Basketball

Kristen McCarthy from Tarbes took the most shots and finished up as the leading scorer with 18 points in the home win against Mondeville (78-66).

Her American team-mate Angelica Robinson was more economical by taking just 9 shots. Yet she still finished with 16 points after a perfect display form the free-throw line (6-of-6).

Robinson also pulled down 19 rebounds. Jovana Rad and Paoline Salagnac were also on good form with 17 and 14 points each.

For Mondeville the Americans Amanda Lassiter, Noel Quinn and K. B. Sharp all finished with double-digit scores of 14, 12 and 10 points respectively.

Toulouse fell apart during the last five minutes of their LFB encounter with Perpignan Basket after leading (65-58). 

Iva Ciglar (27 points - picture) led the charge with 8 points during a 16-0 run for the visitors to win the match (74-68).

It was a tough defeat for Toulouse who are now finding themselves being drawn into the battle at the bottom end of the table. Maud Medenou and former Duke University player Carrem Gay scored 19 points in defeat.

In the other match from LFB round 16 Nantes-Reze beat Basket Landes in the LFB-TV match of the week.

Mistie Mims had the last say as Lyon BF beat Charleville-Mézières (57-42). Mims led the way with 20 points in a game that her team led from start to finish. This game enters the history books of the Ligue Féminine de Basketball because the two head coaches, Romuald Yernaux and Laurent Buffard were absent due to their suspension.

Nantes Rezé 68-63 Basket Landes
Tarbes 78-66 USO Mondeville
Toulouse Métropole 68-74 Perpignan Basket
Aix-en-Provence 79-86 Villeneuve d'Ascq
Charleville-Mézières 42-57 Lyon BF
Hainaut Basket 66-60 Lattes Montpellier
Arras 45-74 Bourges Basket

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Picture credits:

womensbasketball-in-france.com
Daniel Lemoine
FIBA Europe

Date created: 13 January 2013

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