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Amateur basketball news on the play-offsThis week there are two sections for amateur basketball news as the post season play-offs started. In NF2 the top two teams from the four groups played their first in a two match series to determine which teams will play in the Nationale Fémine final four at the end of May. The NF3 regular season finished three weeks ago and the eight group winners in France have been split into two groups of four teams. The winner from each of the two groups will go to play in the Nationale Féminine 3 final four against the winners from Réunion and the French Caribbean. NF2 play-offs:Furdenhein have a good home record with only local rival, the SIG, walking away with a victory since their last home defeat in NF2 way back in October 2006. With this record they were not worried about the visit of NF2 group A winners US Laveyron. In front of a full house at Furdenheim the match went to the wire. With about 10 seconds left on the clock Sarah Mandery from Furdenheim hit the shot of the evening, a three-pointer that gave her side the victory (68-67). This is only the second defeat of Laveyron this season and they will hope to bounce back on their home court next weekend. Nice CAB and Strasbourg IG (SIG) have players on their rosters that have LFB experience: Sabina Falcoz now playing at Nice led with 17 points while Céline Schmitt-Sender hit 20 points for the SIG. The two sides played each other recently in the Coupe de France in a match where the SIG won. The SIG had the better start to this game and did not allow their hosts to enjoy home advantage as they built a 13-point lead (48-35). Nice rallied back and by the end of the third period they trailed by only 3 points (60-63). The game went all the way to the wire with neither side able to walk away with the win as they finished tied (79-79). The second leg at the hall will be a winner take all match. If the two teams are tied by the end of the match, overtime will be played.
Before the match between Ifs (above) and Colomier, the talk of the town was who would win the battle between Julie Villain for Ifs and Nathalie Billaud for Colomier. Both players have played with big clubs in the LFB and have impressive basketball CVs. Both players did not disappoint as they led their sides in scoring with 20 and 23 points respectively. While these two players were being watched all the time Julliete N’Diaye made use of the extra space for Colomier and scored 21 points. Despite playing with 4 fouls for the whole of the final quarter she turned the match in her side’s favour with 5 quick points (72-67) to give Colomier the lead for good three minutes from the end. Colomier went on to win (75-71). 
Aminata Konate’s two free-throws nineteen seconds from the end of the match was all that separated USVO’s espoir from Val de Loire (66-65). The hosts from Tour were hoping that the experience of Adriana Cavojska and Oly Sene would be enough to see them hold off the young side from Valenciennes. They scored 17 and 22 points respectively and did all they could to keep their side in the game. The home side edged out USVO 20-16 in the first period but then suffered a collapse during the second period allowing their guests to go into the break leading (39-31). Tour made up their deficit by keeping their guests scoreless for the first five minutes of the third period (39-39). Both teams continued their exchange of baskets for the rest of the match with USVO making the last score. NF2 quarter-final results Amateur Basketball news from the NF3 play-offsEight teams play-off for two places allocated for teams from the French mainland for the NF3 final four. 95 teams played out of 8 groups during the regular season and winner from each group qualify for the post season knock-out competition. The quarter-final results: Brive Correzé 91-98 Racing Strasbourg Saran qualify for the final four Saran is off to NF3 final four. They only lost two games in group E and averaged 68 points a game. They had no problems in their quarterfinal match against Puilboreau winning by 28 points.Saran has beaten the Espoir teams from Calais and Mondeville during the season. So they were not daunted by the prospect of playing Saint Amand Espoir for a place in the national finals at the end of May. The experience of the players was too much for the youthful exuberance of Saint Amand as Saran won by a comfortable margin (86-69). Castenau overcame Racing Strasbourg (63-60) to take the last place in the final. Last season Flore Perotto was playing in the LFB with Montpellier and her experience was essential as she led Castenau with 19 points. Semi-final results USM Saran 86-69 Saint Amand Return from Amateur Basketball News to "What's New" page Return to Amateur Basketball News Amateur Basketball News from the regular season
Amateur Basketball News pictures courtesy of IFS and Val de Loire Basketball Clubs from NF2. USM Saran for NF3
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