Nantes-Rezé are the double defending champions of the LFB Challenge Round having won the competition in 2010 and 2011. They have started their defense well with a comfortable victory against Tarbes (86-58).
Tarbes had beaten Nantes-Rezé during the final round games of the 2011-12 regular season to claim fifth place and home court advantage for game 2 and if required also for game 3.
Nantes-Rezé took hold of the game early to build up a double-digit lead by the end of the first quarter (22-12).
Nantes' domination of the rebounds and excellent shooting enabled them to build up a 23-point advantage by the interval (44-23).
Tarbes became more competitive in the second half but failed into cutting into the deficit and ended up dropping the first game (58-85).
Nantes-Rezé finished the game with 50% shooting despite finishing with 9-of-24 from beyond the arc. They were led by the player of the match, Sarah Michel (in picture) who filled the statistic sheet with 21 points, 5 assists and 6 rebounds. Johanne Gomis followed up with 20 points while Aminata Diop chipped in 14 points.
Tarbes was led by Paoline Salagnac who scored 21 points.
In the second semi-final, Basket Landes edged out Hainaut Basket (56-44) to the delight of the home fans. Basket Landes had an off day from three-point land (0-10) but were very accurate in the paint.
Jennifer Humphrey led Basket Landes with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds while Justyna Zurowska added 10 points.
No other players from either side recorded a double digit score.
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