Ligue Féminine de Basketball:
The marathon round 21

The timetable of the Ligue Féminine de Basketball has been effected with the EuroLeague Women play-offs with Bourges Basket and Montpellier having to reschedule domestic matches.

The result is that the 21st round s had started on the 15 February and had ended on 7 March when Villeneuve d'Asca hosted Lattes Montpellier.

Bourges Basket beat Hainaut Basket in the first game of the 21st round played on the 15th February (68-61). Greek international Stella Kaltsidou led Bourges to victory with 17 points and 8 rebounds. Cathy Joens added 13 points and 5 assists while Emméline Ndongue and Jennifer Digbeu had 10 points each.

For Hainaut Basket Marina Solopova finished with a game high 20 points while Amisha Carter scored 15 points while collecting 9 rebounds.

Basket Landes edged out Nantes-Rezé at home (59-45) after taking hold of the match with a 12-4 third-quarter run to regain the lead (44-34) for good going into the final quarter.

Jennifer Humphrey led the way to victory with 18 points and 15 rebounds while Justyna Zurowska also finished with a double-double of 12 points and 11 rebounds.

What happened in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball on Saturday

Cavigal Nice lost at home (72-81) to Challes-les-Eaux in a game that had 22 lead changes and 11 ties. The ladies from Cavigal Nice kept themselves in the game with their three-point shooting 8-of-21.

Although Challes-les-Eaux' roster was down to seven players (without Anaïs Lardy) they escaped with the victory due to solid free-throw shooting 23-of-29. Emilija Podrug led the way with 24 points and was the game top scorer while Mistie Mims finished with 20 points.

Cavigal Nice had five players in double digits with captain Stéphanie Dubois leading the scoring with 14 points.

Cavigal Nice play Tarbes next in a game they need to win in order to stand a chance of avoiding relegation.

Charleville-Mézières tend to play well at home and especially with the cameras of Ardennes TV streaming the game. However this weekend they were blown away by Tarbes (54-75).

The hosts scored straight from the tip-off for their only lead of the game with three seconds played.

Lizanne Murphy hit back-to-back three-pointers within the first minute and Tarbes were on their way to dominate the first quarter (24-10).

Tarbes were in total control the rest of the way with all eight players scoring at least 5 points. Paoline Salagnac and Murphy were the game's top scorer with 15 points each.

Valeriya Berezhynska and Zoi Dimitrakou both had 11 points for the hosts. But the story of the night was the cameo performance of Eléonore Grossemy who happens to be the eighth player in the first team roster who hit both her shots for 4 points during her 14-minute spell.

Tarbes expect to have the 8-point penalty overturned which should put them back up to fifth or sixth place. Yet if the appeal fails they have already made two games against Cavigal Nice.

Further analysis of the relegation zone will come after the games on Sunday afternoon.

Ligue Féminine de Basketball: Only the best on Sunday

The two games on Sunday were played as if they were play-off games with plenty of excitement in the first three quarters. In the final quarter the teams placed higher in the regular season championship standings pulled away.

Arras came away with an important victory (72-59) against Lyon BF. This victory moves them out of the relegation picture.

However it was Lyon that got off to the best start edging the first quarter (14-10). Lyon continued to dominate the rebounds and despite foul problems for Mame Marie Sy-Diop Lyon went into the locker room leading (32-26) with Krystal Thomas and Leslie Ardon leading the way with 7 points.

Without Joyce Cousseins-Smith, Leilani Mitchell (in picture) was alone running the point for Arras. She sparked her team into action during the second half with 13 points. Also Sabrina Reghaissïa found her range from the three-point range as Arras took the lead going into the final quarter (44-41).

Despite the low shooting percentage the final quarter was an offensive festival with the hosts coming out on top 28-18 to win the match. Mitchell finished the game with 19 points, 9 rebounds and 5 assists for Arras while Marissa Coleman scored 15 points for Lyon.

USO Mondeville were overrun by Aix-en-Provence in the first quarter (10-22) but picked themselves up to go into the locker room tied (40-40).

Touty Gandega (in picture with ball) put Mondeville in front for good (59-57) at the end of the third quarter from the free-throw line.

Naîgnouma Coulibaly (15 rebounds) and Laetitia Kamba with 16 and 15 points apiece did the work in the paint for Mondeville while Gandega (12 points) and Ingrid Tanqueray (10 points) took care of the long distance shots as they held on to win (78-70) and remain in fourth place.

For Aix-en-Provence that went 10-of-12 from the floor during the first quarter Natalie Hurst continued her festival of points with 19 points. Sylvie Gruszczynski and Liene Jansone added 15 points each.

Aix-en-Provence went 9-of-16 from behind the arc but once again Cindy Lima picked up 2 quick fouls in the first quarter and was handicapped for the rest of the match.

The results of the weekend mean that the relegation battle in the Ligue Féminine de Basketball is between Aix-en-Provence, Cavigal Nice and Lyon BF. Tarbes' participation in this fight depends on the result of their appeal against the deduction of 8 points.

LFB results from round 21

Charleville-Mézières 54-75 Tarbes
Basket Landes 59-45 Nantes Rezé
Arras 72-59 Lyon BF
Bourges Basket 68-61 Hainaut Basket
USO Mondeville 78-70 Aix-en-Provence
Villeneuve d'Ascq 67-87 Lattes Montpellier
Cavigal Nice 72-81 Challes-les-Eaux

Look back at what happened in round 20

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