In France the basketball season starts with NM1 basketball for men and NF1 basketball for women.
The 16 teams will battle it over 30 weeks with the winner of the regular season winning the right to play in the LFB next season.
The three other teams that finish in the top 4 will qualify for the NF1 final four.
The winner of the final four will be crowned champions of France; and if the winning team is different to the regular season champion, they will also be promoted to the LFB.
In the last two seasons, the winners of the regular season, Nantes-Rezé (2008) and Limoges (2009) came out second best to Basket Landes and Armentières respectively.
Some weeks during the regular season we will write about a team of the week. This week we have chosen Pleyber-Christ and you will be able to read our story by following this link or scrolling down the page.
What happened during the first weekend of NF1 basketball
Etoile de Voiron Féminin opened their campaign with a victory for their new coach Thierry Dornez (80-65) against NF1 basketball newcomers Charnay-Macon.
Voiron went into the interval leading (39-31) and thanks to 16 points from Nadja Morgan went into the final period leading (55-45).
Rennes won the Brittany derby against Pleyber-Chirst by 30 points, while Union Hainaut showed no mercy against Nice BC 06 with a 25-point victory(74-49).
TVL (Tours), as they are known locally, won their first ever match at this level (66-54) against the CFBB.
Dessislava Anguelova who is 39 years old and more than 20 years older than the eldest player from the CFBB, gave a little lesson in the art of point-guard play.
With Tours leading by just 3 points at the end of the first period, Anguelova was called into action. By the end of the second period, her side led by 14 points (42-28).
The CFBB made a comeback during the third period. But with Clarisse M’Paka leading the way with 19 points and 9 rebounds and Delphine Lecoultre adding 11 points, Tours survived.
Charleville Mézières had to wait until the third period to get the better of Roche Vendée and went on to record a good road win (73-51).
It is not often that a winning team playing away from home turns the ball over 25 times, 10 times more than their opponents and run out winners. However this is what happened to the SIG as they beat CSP Rezé (66-53).
Céline Schmitt-Sendner fired in 27 points for Illkirch-Graffenstadem which included the only three-pointer of the night for the guests.
CSP were without Sandrina Ronot and Manute Larissa. They never recovered from allowing their guests the first 9 points of the game.
Dunkerque huffed and puffed their way to a road victory against Reims (73-59). Dunkerque always appeared to be in control but only went into the final quarter leading (53-49).
Reims who only have a roster of six players were unable to match their opponents in the final period and ended up losing the game despite the 21 points of Floriane Herrscher.
FC Lyon continued from where they left off in NF2 with a (81-72) victory against US Laveyron with Julie Legoupil (right) leading the scoring with 23 points for Lyon.
Lyon dominated the first period and led (25-10). Laveyron spent the rest of the game chasing after the score.
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Dunkerque huffed and puffed their way to a road victory against Reims (73-59). Dunkerque always appeared to be in control but only went into the final quarter leading (53-49).
Franck Simon (left), the coach, has a full time job away from Pleyber-Christ as a CTS for basketball in the region. His role as a coach at is purely voluntary.
Pleyber-Christ’s first home game of the season was a Brittany derby against Avenir de Rennes. When the two clubs met last April, Pleyber-Christ saved their NF1 basketball status with a hard fought victory (77-57).
