Basket Landes got third win of the season

Basket Landes playing away from home started the game well leading (8-4) with 5 points coming from Marion Laborde.

However the lead changed hands several times during the first period with neither team able to gain the upper hand (19-19).

The guests opened the first lead of the game during the second period after a Laborde trey to lead (26-21).

Basket Landes were unable to increase their advantage and went into the interval with single point lead (32-31).

Dimitrova became visible offensively during the third period as Basket Landed stretched their advantage (50-38).

Reims switched to full court press to finish the quarter by scoring the last 4 points to go into the final period trailing by 8 points (42-50).

Valeriya Berezhynska completed a 6-0 run at the start of the final period for the hosts.

Yet Basket Landes finally found a solution for their opponents' defense: Ana Perovic found her way to the basket on several occasions as her side went 11 points clear (58-47).

Reims managed to recover and put a run together which included two three-pointers by Amélie Pochet and a trey by Lucie Bouthoers.

Mame-Marie Sy-Diop completed the comeback by putting Reims in the lead (62-61), approaching money-time.

As the game reached its climax Dimitrova scored twice for Basket Landes while Pochet managed to score once.

With the the game into its final minute and Basket Landes leading (65-64) the home team did the rest of their scoring from the free-throw line to win (68-65).

For Basket Landes Laborde (right) and Perovic also finished in double digits with 16 and 15 points each.

Pochet and Manon Sinico were the only players in double digits for the hosts with 19 and 10 points each. Sy-Diop scored 9 points and finished with 11 rebounds.

Bourges Basket took it easy against Villeneuve d'Ascq

Villeneuve d'Ascq played without Jolene Anderson (match suspension imposed by club) , Mijijana Evtoukhovitch, and Martina Rejchova for their last match of the year.

Bourges Basket allowed Géraldine Robert to open the scoring for Villeneuve d'Ascq before scoring 10 unanswered points (10-2).

Bourges continued to control the pace of the game and led (17-7) by the end of the first period.

For the next two periods the home side continued to dominate the game. By the end of the third period Bourges had the game won (57-28).

Pierre Vincent once again gave all his players time on the court and relaxed during the final quarter.

This allowed Villeneuve to reduce their deficit and bring some respectability to the final score (67-50).

Ana Lelas and Nwal Endéné Miyem were the only players for Bourges Basket in double digits with 15 and 13 points apiece.

Robert had a double-double for Villeneuve with 12 points and 10 rebounds while Iziane Castro Marques scored 10 points.

Florence Lepron - on her return to the Prado - scored 9 points.

UHB suffered in beating Challes-les-Eaux

UHB were without Bintou Dieme who - according to the local papers - has been suspended by the club

Bernadette (Mudju) Ngoyisa was the best player in this match and led the UHB scoring with 12 points and 11 rebounds.

Tiffany Stansbury also had a solid game for UHB and appears to have fully recovered from her injury as she made 4 steals in the match.

Challes had the better of the first period and led (13-10). But they allowed UHB to get a run together to go into the interval leading (24-17).

The quality of the basketball improved in the third period with Clémence Beikes (left) going through a spell in which she scored 7 points including a trey.

Kathy Wambe also added a three-pointer as UHB stretched their lead (34-22).

Carly Wilson who had already hit one shot from beyond the arc sparked a Challes 11-0 run by hitting a three-pointer.

This was quickly followed by treys from Martina Luptakova-Gyurcs and Laina Badiane.

UHB went into the final period leading (38-37) but were soon trailing as Emilie Duvivier hit a shot from beyond the arc for Challes to go in front.

The lead did not last long as Ngoyisa levelled the score. Then Chioma Nnamaka fired in a three-pointer.

The two teams were level for the last time as Duvivier hit her second shot from behind the arc (43-43) after 33 minutes.The pace slowed down and scoring became more difficult.

Ngoyisa finally put UHB in the lead. Nnamaka fired in her second three of the match and Wambe completed the 7-0 run (50-43).

Challes-les-Eaux's captain Luptakova-Gyurcs (10 points) found her way to the basket to score and get a foul which resulted in a free-throw to end the UHB run.

Laëtitia Kamba scored UHB's last points of the match with just over two minutes to play.

Afterwards the two teams missed shot after shot until Wilson connected from beyond the arc with less than 15 seconds to play.

UHB survived the last few seconds to win (52-49).

Mondeville beat Nantes-Rezé

Lenae Williams (left) led the scoring for Mondeville with 18 points and 6 assists while Rankica Sarenac hit 18 points.

Jennifer Digbeu and Pauline Jannault also finished in double digits with 15 and 12 points each.

Nantes-Rezé who were not able to start with Michele Van Gorp also had four players in double digits: Sandrine Ronot, Leslie Ardon, Jessica Moore and Doriane Tahane who sored 16, 15 10 and 10 points respectively.

The first period belonged to Nantes-Rezé as they opened an early lead (21-15).

Mondeville went to zone during the second period and were soon on level terms (26-26).

Digbeu, Sarenac and Williams hardly missed a shot as Mondeville went on a 24-9 run to go into the locker room ahead (50-35).

Nantes-Rezé recomposed themselves after the interval but were not able to reduce their deficit during the third period and were still trailing by 14 points going into the final period.

Then Nantes-Rezé changed their defensive options while also becoming more aggressive. This approach suited Ardon who hit the last 5 points in her side's 14-4 run.

Hervé Coudray was forced to make changes as his lead had almost evaporated (68-64) for his side to get back in control (74-66) as the game entered the last couple of minutes.

Mondeville then held off the last attempts of their opponents to win (79-70).

Aix-en-Provence took their time before blowing away Calais

K. B. Sharp took a break from dishing out assists and forcing fouls and concentrated on scoring points.

She finished with 16 points which included 4-of-6 from beyond the arc as Aix-en-Provence came from behind to beat COB Calais (70-57).

COB Calais had a great start to the match with a (12-1) opening but only led (23-17) by the end of the first period.

Aix continued in their task of bringing down the score and went into the break with a deficit of only 4 points (32-36).

Hollie Grima had already scored 10 points for the hosts.

Anne Sophie-Pagnier was leading the scoring with 12 points for Calais. Also Olayinka Sanni was already on 10 points.

A (7-0) run by Aix at the start of the third period, which included 4 points from Magali Lacroix, put Aix-en-Provence in the lead for the first time in the match (37-36).

The advantage swapped between the sides on several occasions until Grima put Aix in front for good (45-43) after 24 minutes of play.

Aix extended their lead going into the final period (55-48).

Calais scored the first 3 points of the final period. Yet their challenge was brought to an end as Sharp - with a trey - sparked a 15-0 run which came to an end with a three-pointer by Yacine Séné (70-51).

The last two minutes belonged to Calais as Aix-en-Provence relaxed.

Grima also scored 16 points while Lacroix and Laurence Van Malderen had 13 points each for the winning team.

For Calais Pagnier finished with 17 points which included 3-of-3 from the land of many. Double doubles had Sanni (15 points, 11 rebounds) and Lauren Neaves (12 points, 18 rebounds).

Tarbes: looking strong

Isabelle Yacoubou-Dehoui was again the leading player for Tarbes with 16 points and 20 rebounds. However five other players from Tarbes also finished in double digits with.

Arras were without Leilani Mitchell and Marielle Amant for their last match of the year.

Liz Moeggenberg , who had made her début in France by playing for Arras, scored the first points of the match after 90 seconds for Tarbes.

Yacoubou-Dehoui did not waste much time after this by opening her account. When Frida Eldebrink (left) hit a three-pointer (7-2) it appeared that Tarbes were going to run away with the game.

Vaida Sipaviciute came to the rescue of Arras with 10 points. She was assisted by Jenna O'Hea who dished out three assists during the first period.

Tarbes edged the first quarter (19-15) with Yacoubou scoring her 6th point of the match.

The guests put a stop to Sipaviciute in the second quarter as they went on a 14-0 run to take charge of the match (33-17).

Bernie Mosby who had been transparent for the first 17 minutes suddenly came to life for Arras and scored 7 points as Arras attempted to come back into the match.

Back to back baskets by N'Deye N'Diaye enabled Tarbes to go to the locker room with a lead of more than 10 points (39-28).

After the interval Tarbes were all fired up and put an end to their opponents' resistance with a 21-2 run to end the game as a contest (60-30) after only 27 minutes.

Then Tarbes played the rest of the match in auto pilot mode with players coming off the bench and hitting three-pointers at will as they cruised to victory (85-56).

Polina Tzekova scored 13 points while Béatrice Castets and N'Diaye both scored 12 points. Moeggenberg and Eldebrink also finished in double-digit withh 11 and 10 points apiece.

For Arras Sipaviciute (right) finished with a double-double of 20 points and 14 rebounds. Mosby contributed 13 points

Montpellier doing the hard work in the third period

The expected three-point shooting contest between the two teams did not happen. Montpellier managed 6-from-23 with Sheana Mosch (left) hitting 4-of-6.

Clermont Ferrand only managed 4-from-12 with Claire Tomaszewski scoring 3-of-5.

For Montpellier, playing at home, this victory (80-72) was important as they move into the top half of the table and are just 1 game behind a championship play-off spot.

Once again Mosch led the scoring with 22 points. Gaëlle Skrela was also active with 16 points.

Emma Randall recovered her scoring touch for Clermont-Ferrand and finished with 19 points and 13 rebounds.

The match itself started slowly with the guests taking advantage of their opponents' discretion to lead (5-2).

Then Montpellier suddenly threw caution to the wind and scored 7 quick points to go in front (9-5).

They stretched their lead with a second score from beyond the arc from Skrela (17-9).

The two teams then traded baskets for the remaining time in the period with Montpellier wining the first quarter (21-14).

The second period was rather technical with both sides having their moments. The home side continued from where they left off in the first period and increased their advantage (29-19).

Randall and Anaël Lardy (17 points) started the Clermont-Ferrand's revival as they outscored Montpellier 11-2. Hence they reduced their deficit to a single point.

Three-pointers from Mosch and Skrela enabled Montpellier to go ahead into the interval (39-34).

The third period belonged to Mosch as she scored 13 points that included three three-pointers. This enabled Montpellier to go into the final period with a bigger advantage (66-54).

The guests tried their best during the final period to reduce their deficit, starting with a trey from Guiday Mendy and finishing with a three-point play by Tomaszewski (17 points - right).

Montpellier were only leading (70-64) with five minutes left to play and had to change their approach.

The result was that Aurélie Bonnan (10 points), Sylvie Gruszczynski (13 points) and Pauline Krawczyk all scored during the final minutes which prevented Clermont-Ferrand from coming back.

USO Mondeville 79-70 Nantes-Rezé

Aix-en-Provence 70-57 Cob Calais

Bourges Basket 67-50 Villeneuve d'Ascq

Union Hainaut Basket 52-49 Challes-les-Eaux

SJS Reims-Basket 65-68 Basket Landes

Asptt Arras 56-85 Tarbes

Lattes-Montpellier 80-72 Clermont