Saint Amand 73-58 Arras (16-14, 18-19, 21-15, 18-10)
Saint Amand won their third consecutive LFB match to send their fans home happy and in good voice. It was a typical derby match with passion, blood , tears and basketball.
Arras' newcomer Elzbieta Miedzik got the derby off to an explosive start with a 3-pointer, her very first touch of the ball.
The next few minutes were rather scrappy with lots of elbows and bodies flying around. Remember basketball is supposed to be a non-contact sport. The hosts, better equipped in the paint with Inès Ajanovic and Tiffany Stansbury were drawing foul after foul. So Saint Amand went in front (7-2).
Natasa Ivancevi from Arras was not put off by the physical side of their opponents and used her speed to cause mayhem as her side levelled the game (9-9).
The quality of basketball improved and Stansbury put Arras back in front. Stansbury was executing a "side step reverse spin backboard jump shot". Tamara Moore extended the advantage after a patient build-up by burying a trey from left open 45 degrees. Shortly after she followed this up with a pair of free-throws(16-9).
Bruno Blier, Arras’ head coach, called for a time-out in between Moore’s scores. And he did not mince his words. When play resumed his team was more aggressive. Finally Shena Mosch escaped her markers to find that little of space for Arras to reduce their deficit by the end of the first period (14-16).
Ajanovic versus Mosch
Games are sometimes won or lost on moments of magic. And there were plenty. Saint Amand’s systems are based on playing collectively and go while Arras hunt in pairs.
Ajanovic hit a shot from the land of many as Saint Amand came out of the starting block quickly. Stansbury’s basket jump shot followed almost immediately. Then she was back in defence to block Carla Thomas. This ended up turning into a fast break with Ajanovoc scoring to complete a 7-0 run (23-16).
It was now the turn of Arras to hit back and Mosch obliged with 10 straight points. With the unselfish play by Slyvie Gruszczynsk and her crisp passing Mosch who completed the action two times with a trey, Arras regained the lead (26-25).
On the other hand the derby match was becoming more physical with Marielle Amant who was the first player to leave the court to receive treatment.
Clarisse Costaz back to her best
A different style of game by both teams at the start of the third quarter was more pleasant to watch. Arras hit first with back to back baskets to regain the lead (37-34)with Carla Thomas and Ivancevi.
Costaz, back to her best, gave a full display of her repertoire as she scored 8 quick points to put the hosts in front for good (41-37).
Then the game became faster and more fluid as both sides started to score more freely from the outside. Thomas and Stansbury continued their battle of the pivots while the two coaches kept on interchanging their players (48-46).
Fabrice Courcier, Saint Amand’s coach, called for a time-out. Back onto the court his players were more aggressive. Laëtitia Kamba did not let anything go and got tangled up with Mosch who in turn had to go off with a head wound.
Arras’ 7-0 run was brought to a halt right on the period-ending-buzzer as Ivancevic went on a fast break to finish with a lay-up (55-48).
Saint Amand initially tried to control the pace of the final period and increased their advantage (61-51). But Arras modified the hunting pair: Mosch with a 4-point play and Butler doing the rest their deficit was reduced to (61-58).
It was time for one more change in the attacking formation of the hosts. Moore and Costaz changed roles to good effect. They set up the coolest 3-pointer of the evening for Olena Ogorodnikova to give them a 10-point lead with 90 seconds remaining. After this Saint Amand added a few more points to win (73-58).
LFB match comments by the coaches in French:
Fabrice Courcier from Saint Amand explained after the match that it was a good week with three victories. As a result the players suffered physically in this match. He went on explain that Arras had the whole week to prepare for this match that became an objective after they lost at home last week to Calais.
The team victory was deserved as the players found solution to steal points here and there that proved to be decisive toward the end of the match. He concluded by talking about the history of the derby and how nice it is to win at home but it would also be nice to win at Arras.
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Bruno Blier from Arras saw the match as follows: Saint Amand’s first quarter lead was mainly to their rebounding ad we shot better from the field. An big improving on the rebounding front was eroded by the high number of turners. It is not possible to win matches like this with 27 turnovers.
At the end we had to go for our 3-points shots but when they don't go in the gap widens in the opposite sense.
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Costaz, back to her best, gave a full display of her repertoire as she scored 8 quick points to put the hosts in front for good (41-37).
