Amel Bouderra (left)opened the scoring in the final with a baseline jumper with 28 seconds played.
But Clémence Beikes was quickly down the other end to equalise for UHB.
Laëtitia Kamba and Déjené Diawara battling in the paint at both ends of the court were in full swing from the tip-off. Kamba hit first with a trey to give USB an early lead (9-6).
Diawara hit back with 2 points for the hosts. But then a three-pointer by Dasa Krasnockota was quickly followed by 2 points by Beikes to put UHB in the driving seat.
This situation forced Romuald Yernaux, the coach from Charleville, to call the first time-out of the game with his side trailing (16-8) with four minutes left to play in the first quarter.
Both teams stepped up defensively after the time-out and scoring became next to impossible until the last 30 seconds when Bouderra connected from beyond the arc.
This was followed by a three-point buzzer beater by Alexia Kusion (pictured). However UHB led (18-15) at the end of the first quarter.
The game became even quicker in the second quarter, with both teams playing a similar player-on-player marking system with neither side able to put a run together.
With 4:22 remaining until the interval Yernaux decided to use his second time-out with his team trailing (21-24).
Beikes and Kamba found the target for UHB. They started to pull away (28-22) from their hosts. However Corinne Benintendi, their coach was not happy and called for a time-out with just under 2 ½ minutes to play.
The two teams continued to play fast offensive basketball, which made up for their lack of success from the free-throw line (5-of-13 combined).
Once again Beikes was the star of the match, with back to back scores to finish the quarter and take her side into the interval leading (34-27).
The teams started slowly after the break. But once Bouderra found the target for the hosts, the scorekeepers were kept busy with shots flying in from all over the court with Sarra Querghi and Zusane Ondrejova hitting the target for the hosts while Kamba and Noémie Lemaire did the scoring for UHB.
The UHB coaching staff decided with 4:44 left to play that a time-out was required despite leading by 5 points (40-35).
Both teams were back on level terms with a three-point play by Ondrejova with 2:44 remaining in the quarter.
The hosts finally edged in front (47-46) with 18 seconds to play when Diawara somehow wrestled the ball off her markers to score in the paint. She then added the free-throw.
However the joy was short lived because with a second left Emilie Duvivier was left open at the 45° point to fire in a three-pointer.
The fourth quarter had plenty of drama. It appeared that Diawara had won the match for the hosts with a drive to the basket with about 10 seconds left to play. Yet Beikes managed to draw a foul at the last second.
There was some argument and the game clock was pushed back to three seconds. Beikes went 1-of-2 and Charleville were unable to score, so the game went into overtime (60-60).
Bouderra was left open on the baseline and she opened the scoring with a baseline trey. UHB then lost Beikes for her 5th foul with 3:47 to play.
Kamba and Diawara continued their battle inside. But it was a slip at the offensive end by Lopp that allowed Bouderra to set up a fast break that was concluded by Alexia Kusion (66-62) with 1:49 to play.
UHB were then on the back foot and Bouderra added 2 more points from the free-throw line (68-62) with a minute left to play.
However the suspense lasted until the final seconds with Querghi firing in a trey for the hosts that secured the win (73-71).
Return to the top of NF1 basketball final four final
NF1 basketball: Carrine Contessi et Sarra Ouerghi lèvent la coupe de champion de France
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