Charleville-Mézières
climbing up the LFB ladder

Charleville-Mézières came into this LFB encounter with an objective to avenge the webcast-tv defeat against Villeneuve d'Ascq (70-75) from earlier in the season.

The task for the Flammes Carolo appeared to be difficult with just a possible rotation of seven players: Eléonore Grossemy rolled her ankle during the week and the club have still not signed a replacement for Magali Lacroix.

However with Ardennes TV around, it was as if Charleville-Mézières had an extra player on the court. They out-played Villeneuve in all areas of the game as they powered their way to victory (86-50).

As they say, statistics do not lie: Charleville had 20 assists against 2 for Villeneuve. They also shot an impressive 57% from the floor with 30-of-53 shots hitting the target.

Villeneuve shot over 40% themselves with 24-from-54. But with just 1-of-9 from beyond the arc and just 7-of-14 from the charity stripes they did not help their cause.

Charleville improved on their free-throw shooting from last week by scoring 17-from-24 and they went 3-of-4 from beyond the arc. However the key in winning this game was the low number of turnovers with 9 and their aggressive nature in attacking the paint that won them extra trips to the free-throw line.

LFB basketball news game report

The match did not start well for the hosts with Amel Bouderra picking up 2 fouls within three minutes. She had to return to the bench and Bulgaria international Ekaterina Dimitrova came on to replace her.

Villeneuve opened the scoring which was the only time they led in the game. However the first quarter turned into an offensive festival with both teams shooting well.

Charleville-Mézières' better collective play and their aggressive approach attacking the basket won them free trips to the charity stripes which enabled them to stay in front.

However Villeneuve finished the quarter stronger and pushed the pendulum in their favour as Sabrina Palie somehow found her way to the basket at the buzzer.

All the same Charleville-Mézières still led (23-19) at the end of the quarter with Zoi Dimitrakou (in picture) and Djéné Diawara scoring 8 points each. For Villeneuve Emilie Gomis and Olayinka Sanni had 7 and 5 points apiece.

Sidney Spencer started to throw her weight around during the first minute of the second quarter as Villeneuve gave an impression that they were about to take over.

However all efforts came to nothing after a three-pointer from the corner by Yacine Séné on the 24-second buzzer to settle the hosts and restored their advantage (28-23).

The pace remained fast and furious for the remaining nine minutes of the first half.

For Villeneuve Kathy Wambe never really settled which resulted in Gomis and Spencer trying to make things out of nothing and forcing their shots. Sanni was also having her usual problems with her foul count.

For Charleville-Mézières everything was going well offensively. Bouderra returned to action midway through the second quarter while Séné on 3 fouls had to take a long break on the bench.

Bouderra's reputation as a buzzer beater specialist had grown such that with 10 seconds left to play, everybody was waiting for her to come up with something special.

She ran the clock down before driving to the basket. However instead of going for the lay-up she passed to Diawara who scored on the buzzer and picked up the foul.

Diawara hit the free throw and Charleville-Mézières went into the interval with a double digit lead (44-33).

The third quarter turned into a Valeriya Berezhynska (in picture) show with some great defensive actions. She also scored 8 points which included 2 points from an assist by Bouderra on the buzzer at the end of the quarter.

Villeneuve trailed (40-61) going into the final quarter but reduced the deficit to 15 points with 6:05 left to play.

A Charleville-Mézières time-out ended the Villeneuve run and the only fireworks came from the hosts as they finished with show time basketball to comfortably win (80-56).

Charleville's margin of victory also gives them the advantage over Villeneuve d'Ascq in the LFB regular season standings if both teams finish level on points at the end of the season.

Charleville-Mézières: Amel Bouderra 8 (7 assists), Anne-Sophie Pagnier 7, Zoi Dimitrakou 18, Ekaterina Dimitrova 9 (7 assists), Djéné Diawara 19 (9 rebounds), Yacine Séné 5, Valeriya Berezhynska 14

Villeneuve d'Ascq: Anne Breitreiner 4, Sabrine Bouzzenna 0, Alice Nayo 2, Laurie Datchy 6, Emilie Gomis 15, Kathy Wambe 1, Olayinka Sanni 10, Sabrina Palie 4, Sidney Spencer 14

Look back at what happened in rounds 15 & 16

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