Basket Landes leaving the relegation zone

Basket Landes have moved out of the relegation zone for the first time this season after holding off Villeneuve d’Ascq (66-60) at home.

Géraldine Robert (20 points) was back for Villeneuve after serving her suspension. (She was ejected along with Tanisha Wright from Tarbes in the match of round 18 and was suspended for two weeks).

However Robert’s efforts were not enough to deny Basket Landes' victory.

Anaïs Le Gluher scored 3-from-3 from behind the arc during the first period for Basket Landes. With Marion Laborde also hitting a three-pointer the home fans were already on their feet.

However 9 points from Robert allowed Villeneuve to go in front briefly (17-16).

Basket Landes then switched tactics which allowed their inside players Ana Perovic and Jennifer Humphrey to score for their side to win the first period (21-17).

The second quarter became rather technical and with Robert leading the way, Villeneuve went into the interval ahead (33-32).

Basket Landes managed to stop Robert in the third period from running the game.

But they fell further behind as Jolene Anderson and Ljubica Drljaca scored from the land of many.

Basket Landes had to play catch-up for the rest of the period.

They drew level, then fell behind again before reducing the deficit to a single point (45-46).

All the same Villeneuve, pushed by Anderson, went into the final quarter leading (53-47).

Basket Landes fought tooth and nail during the final period.

With Bineta Diouf scoring twice from beyond the arc they eventually regained the advantage (59-57) with three minutes left to play.

Then a three-pointer from Anderson put Villeneuve back in front for a few seconds. However Basket Landes had no intention of letting this game go.

They held their nerves to record their fifth victory of the season (66-60) and hence move up to 12th place.

Asptt Arras beat Cob Calais

Asptt Arras have at last won a derby match at home by beating COB Calais (79-61).

Arras did not allow Cob Calais to get into their stride and led (9-5) after just two minutes of play.

The guests then had their best spell of the whole match with a 7-0 run to go in front (12-9) with just four minutes played.

Arras then slowly took control to regain the lead for good and win the first period (22-15).

Arras, playing more collectively, stepped on the accelerator.

With Bernie Mosby and Leilani Mitchell finding their mark the hosts opened the first significant lead of the match (31-19) with 14 minutes played.

Lauren Neaves was the only player from Calais to find the basket regularly. Yet her efforts were not enough to stop Arras from increasing their lead with her side trailing by 12 points going into the interval (32-44).

Stéphanie Beuzelin (left) started to find her range from beyond the arc during the third period for Arras to increase their lead to a maximum of 23 points.

They dominated all sectors of the game and held the advantage going into the final quarter (67-48).

Arras were never in trouble as they played out the final period to comfortably win.

The rest of the news

UHB beat Clermont-Ferrand (74-51) with all 10 players getting on the score sheet. Once again Emma Randall did not play for Clermont-Ferrand.

Bernardette Ngoyisa and Sabrina Reghaissïa led the scoring with 13 and 12 points apiece.

Sabrina Palie dishout 7 assists for UHB as her side dominated Clermont-Ferrand in all the sectors of the game.

UHB are back in joint third position with Challes-les-Eaux and Villeneuve d’Asq.

SJS Reims 79-61 Nantes-Rezé

Tarbes 60-59 Lattes-Montpellier

Aix-en-Provence 55-67 USO Mondeville

Basket Landes 66-60 Villeneuve d'Ascq

Asptt Arras 79-61 Calais

Bourges Basket 58-29 Challes-les-Eaux

Union Hainaut Basket 74-51 Clermont-Ferrand