2012 LFB Champions - Bourges Basket

Bourges Basket picked up their 7th LFB Championship trophy after beating Montpellier (53-45) to claim the 2012 Ligue Féminine de Basketball Trophy and their 11th Champion of France title.

Emméline Ndongue celebrated her birthday in style with 15 points and 12 rebounds. However the biggest surprise of the evening was reserved for Jennifer Digbeu whose boyfriend got down on his knees and proposed - she accepted with the word "Qui".

The scenes after the match were much more entertaining than the match itself. Neither side was able to get into any kind of offensive rhythm as defensive became the order of the game.

Similar to the first game in which Bourges won (59-47) it was Montpellier that got off to a better start with the first 4 points of the game.

Montpellier led (6-2) after two minutes but Bourges slowly worked their way into the game to level the score (6-6) with four minutes played.

Nwal-Endéné Miyem with 8 first-quarter points and Emméline Ndongue with 4 points pushed Bourges into the lead with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter.

Keisha Brown became the third Bourges player on the score sheet as her side edged the first quarter (14-10).

At the start of the second quarter Montpellier tried to put a stop on Bourges basket going inside the paint. But Ana Lelas was quickly called for a three-point perimeter foul on Cathy Joens.

Joens went 2-of-3 from the charity stripes and Bourges continued to build on their advantage (21-14) with 14 minutes played.

After a Montpellier time-out Lelas went on the war path scoring 6 points in a 9-0 run by her team. Gaëlle Skrela with the first three-pointer of the game was the other scorer as Montpellier recaptured the lead (23-21).

Bourges Basket did not trail for long as once again they went inside for Ndongue (in picture) to score and eventually go ahead again with a three-ball by Joens. Ndongue scored 3 more points to complete an 8-0 run for a (29-23).

Yet with the clock running down Sandra Dijon-Gérardin managed to twist and turn and score while drawing Ndongue into the foul.

Dijon-Gérardin then hit the free throw and Montpellier went into the locker room trailing (26-29).

The third quarter belonged to Fatimatou Sacko from Montpellier by scoring the first 6 points for her team for her side to regain the lead briefly. Sacko ended up scoring 8 of her team's 10 third-quarter points.

For Bourges with Miyem not finding the net and Ndongue well policed it was the turn of Marielle Amant to come to the rescue as Bourges scrambled their way back into the lead (40-36) going into the final quarter.

The tension was at its maximum without the fireworks: Bourges went 1-of-6 from the free-throw line while Montpellier also missed their 2 attempts thus allowing Bourges a 6-point lead (47-41) with just over three minutes to play.

Then neither side missed a free throw. Joens (left in picture) as so often this season held Bourges together during money time as they held on to win the game and the LFB title.

Bourges Basket : Romane Bernies 0, Margaux Galliou Loko DNP, Ieva Kublina DNP, Nwal-Endéné Miyem 8 (10 rebounds, 3 steals), Céline Dumerc 2, Jennifer Digbeu 3, Cathy Joens 11, Marielle Amant 8, Emméline Ndongue 15 (12 rebounds, 5 ssistts), Kiesha Brown 6, Christelle Diallo DNP

Lattes Montpellier: Léa Blatrie DNP, Virginie Brémont 4, Mathilde Roche DNP, Diandra Tchatchouang 0, Edwige Lawson-Wade 5 (4 assists), Justine Barthelemy DNP, Ana Lelas 10, Gaëlle Skrela 3, Sandra Dijon-Gérardin 9, Stephany Skrba 0, Fatimatou Sacko 14

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