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Charleville-Mézières on top of the NF1 basketball ladder
Teams at the bottom came away with victories while teams on the top dropped crucial games. Charleville-Mézières once again gave a master class in the opening quarter. It took them less than five minutes to score 18 unanswered points against their guests Roche Vendée. The guests managed to pick themselves up and eventually found their way to the basket to outscore their hosts 12-9. Charleville-Mézières, leading (27-12) once again, went on the attack to go into the locker room ahead with a 22-point advantage (49-27). Charleville did not play as well in the second half of the match but managed to control the pace. They had the game won with three minutes to play leading by 24 points. They went on to win (79-66) and as a result consolidate their position as leaders of NF1. Djéné Diawra led the scoring again with a total of 23 points.
Things have changed since the beginning of the season for Nice. They had dropped the first five games of the season and became early candidates for relegation. Union Hainaut had cruised past Nice (74-49) in their first meeting in September. But they struggled throughout their second meeting and ended up dropping their fourth game of the season. Although Nice BC 06 will be without Barbara Cousin for the rest of the season they were quickly into their stride and led (10-0) with three minutes played. UHB-SA rallied hard and trailed (15-20) seven minutes later. Nice dominated the rebounds to go ahead into the locker room (45-31). They appeared to have done the hard work as they opened up a 20-point lead with 27 minutes played.Hover the UHB-SA duo of Clémence Beikes and Emilie Duvivier had other ideas. They reduced the deficit to 14 points going into the final quarter. UHB-SA, running after the score, took risks which resulted in Laëtitia Kamba fouling out with four minutes left on the game clock. UHB still trailed by 11 points with the game in money-time (67-78). They fell 7 points short of taking the game into overtime. Emilie Petiteau was the hero for Nice with 24 points and 10 rebounds. UHB-SA remain in second place but are now two games behind NF1 basketball leader.  Illkirch-Graffenstaden have had difficulties in winning against teams in the lower half of the table. It appeared that they would struggle against their guests CSP-Rezé despite leading (17-15) after ten minutes. The SIG struggled for most of the second quarter and were happy that Aline Fischbach (left) fired in 4 shots from beyond the arc for them to lead (38-30) at the break. Things changed for better after the break. It was like watching poetry in motion as the SIG went to work and the veteran players were turning the clock back as they stretched their advantage to 19 points (62-43). The last ten minutes in comparison were disappointing. Yet the SIG held their nerve to win (73-53). Fischbach lead the scoring with 19 points: she hit 5-of-6 from behind the arc. The SIG are now alone in third place.
Lyon BF were unable to travel the 80 km (50 miles) to play US Laveyron which resulted in the postponement of the match. |
Nice BC 06 made it five wins from the last five games with a home victory (78-71) against Union Hainaut Basket Saint Amand.
The CFBB went into the final quarter leading by just 2 points and found themselves trailing by 2 points with seven minutes to play.| |
CFBB (INSEP) 63-57 Tours
Charleville Mézières 79-66 Roche Vendée
Illkirch-Graffenstaden 73-53 CSP Rezé
Charnay-Mâcon 62-58 Etoile de Voiron
Dunkerque Malo 67-78 Reims
Nice BC 06 78-71 UHB-SA
US Laveyron (Postponed) Lyon BF
Rennes 72-59 Pleyber-Christ
NF1 Basketball round 15: Basketball drama as season reaches midway point
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NF1 Basketball news picture credits:
Nice BC 06
CFBB - INSEP
10 January 2010
