NF1 basketball championship qualification for UHB

Union Hainaut Basket joins Charleville-Mézières in the NF1 basketball final four after beating CSP Rezé (72-46).

Charleville-Mézières are one step closer to the regular season title after beating US Lavyeron (75-53).

Lyon BF pulled off another tight victory. This time they won (64-63) against Roche Vendée and remain in 4th place.

Despite this defeat Roche Vendée remain in third place.

The SIG remain close on the heals of Lyon by beating Nice (78-58). This defeat for Nice sees them more or less eliminated from the play-off picture.

Dunkerque did what they had to do to beat the CFBB (77-60) while Reims had no trouble holding off Tours (67-42).

Rennes move clear of the relegation zone after beating Charnay-lès-Mâcon (89-65). Pleyber-Christ beat Voiron (76-55) and are one win away from securing their place in the second division.

You can read highlights of the NF1 basketball news from the weekend actions by clicking on the links below or by scrolling down the page:

SIG powering past Nice in the second half

Union Hainaut Basket in final four

Results from round 26

The story of the first five minutes between Nice BC 06 and Illkirch-Graffenstaden were simple: Nice did not miss and led (12-5). They also outmuscled their guests under the boards and won the rebound battle 6-1.

Emilie Petiteau-Silband (left) with 7 first-quarter points for Nice made the game difficult for the SIG.

The SIG did not make things easy for themselves as they only hit 2-from-9 shots during the first five minutes. However they managed to turn things around, playing more aggressively, winning crucial rebounds to finish the first quarter with a flourish.

Aline Fischbach scored 7 points as the SIG finished the first quarter trailing by a single point (19-20).

Both sides changed defensive tactics in the second quarter, a mixture of player to player defense and zone defensive systems.

Both sides had to work hard to score with all the points coming from inside the paint or free-throw line.

Nice led (28-26) with two minutes to play when Philippe Breitenbucher called for a SIG time-out.

However it was Nice with Lawrence Cayot (12 points) to outscore the SIG (7-3) and go into the interval leading (35-30).

After the break, the game opened up with the shooters finally getting their chances to score from beyond the arc.

Nice struck first with treys from Petiteau-Silband (16 points) and Morganne Plestan enabling them to move 14 points clear (46-32) with two minutes played in the third quarter.

The SIG hit back immediately with Lucie Battaglia (11 points - left in picture) who scored twice from beyond the arc and 2 points from Céline Schmitt-Sendner.

The SIG were then in control and Caroline Nestor and Lina Brazdeïkyte did the rest of the scoring as the SIG reclaimed the lead (51-48) after 26 minutes of play.

They kept up the intensity and went into the final quarter ahead (59-51).

The last quarter was typical NF1 basketball, a lot of shooting, too many unnecessary turnovers and plenty of excitement as the pendulum swung in one direction or the other.

Nice trailed by 5 points (58-63) as the game was reaching its climax. Yet Brazdeïkyte (20 points - right in picture) ended the suspense with back to back treys for the SIG to stall the comeback of the hosts and set the SIG up for victory.

Nice failed to score again and the SIG went on to win (78-58).

Darline N'Soki also finished in double digits with 10 points while Schmitt-Sendner had a perfect shooting day with 3-of-3 from the field and 2-of-2 from the free-throw line.

For Nice BC 06 the dream of a final four is practically over, while the SIG remain in 5th place.

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Union Hainaut Basket looked like they were going to cruise to victory early on in their match against CSP Rezé. They kept their opponents scoreless for the first six minutes of the game leading (8-0).

Fatou Diop ended the run with a trey for the guests. This action was followed by a three-pointer 60 seconds later from their captain Maria Vicente Santa Cruz.

UHB-SA were forced to raise their game and. With Noémie Lemaire finding her scoring touch, they edged the first quarter (15-10).

The second quarter was an even affair with the hosts increasing their advantage slightly at the interval (33-24).

After the break, UHB-SA tried to bring the game to an end as they went 13 points clear. But CSP did not fold and quickly reduced the deficit to 5 points (32-37).

UHB-SA had to wait for Laëtitia Kamba (left) to finally pull away for good. Kamba scored 9 points for UHB-SA as her side opened up a 12-point lead (49-37) with 28 minutes played.

UHB-SA went into the final quarter ahead (53-39) and completely dominated the last ten minutes of the game to win (72-46).

Kamba finished with 18 points. UHB are the second team to qualify for the final four.

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All the NF1 basketball results from round 26 of the 2009-2010 season are listed below:

Nice BC 06 58-78 Illkirch-Graffendstaden

UHB-Saint-Amand 72-46 CSP Rezé

Dunkerque Malo 77-60 CFBB

Lyon BF 64-63 Roche Vendée

Tours (TVL 37) 42-67 Reims BF

Pleyber-Christ 76-55 Voiron

US Laveyron 53-75 Charleville-Mézières

Rennes 89-65 Charnay-et-Mâcon

Round 25: Tours' last stand

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