We are back

This is just a short message to say that this blog is back in action after several months of inactivity.

The French League is coming to it climax. Bourges Basket are still dominating the pace but they are no less than 7 teams still in the battle for the 3 other places although Montpellier and USVO are well placed.

The French Cup has also started.

For those looking for news French basketball news between my last post in December and now I recommend that you have a look at www.womensbasketball-in-France.com.

The site is new and is very current on LFB news and the participation of French clubs in Europe. It has also started it coverage of the NF1

Bourges are setting the pace

After nine rounds Bourges are the only team that have a 100% after they defeated USVO (76-59) last weekend. They are now top of the table and with 3 games in advance of the teams in third place teams and can now concentrate on improving their EuroLeague standings.

1.	Bourges	18Pts	9m
2.	Valenciennes	17Pts	9m
3.	Challes	15Pts	9m
4.	Villeneuve	15Pts	9m
5.	Montpellier	14Pts	9m
6.	Mondeville	14Pts	9m
7.	Clermont	13Pts	9m
8.	Saint Amand	13Pts	9m
9.	Arras	13Pts	9m
10.	Tarbes	12Pts	9m
11.	Reims	12Pts	9m
12.	Calais	12Pts	9m
13.	Aix	11Pts	9m
14.	Mourenx	10Pts	9m

Mourenx with only one victory this season are in need of a victory soon as they are 3 games away from safety.

LFB: Round 5 table and Pascal Piscan is dismissed

After 5 rounds of the LFB, Bourges and Valenciennes continue to dominate the championship

1.	Bourges	10Pts	5m
2.	Valenciennes	10Pts	5m
3.	Challes	9Pts	5m
4.	Reims	9Pts	9m
5.	Clermont	8Pts	5m
6.	Mondeville	8Pts	5m
7.	Villeneuve	8Pts	5m
8.	Arras	8Pts	6m
9.	Montpellier	7Pts	5m
10.	Saint Amand	7Pts	5m
11.	Tarbes	6Pts	5m
12.	Aix	6Pts	5m
13.	Calais	6Pts	5m
14.	Mourenx	6Pts	5m

Reims and Arras have played a game more than the other teams. You can find

match reports

in English and a lot of other information about the LFB.

Tarbes have fired Pascal Piscan. This is the first sacking during the season in sometime. It appears he is paying the price for a poor start and all the problems with the signing of Icis Tillis

LFB News

The French domestic season is now well underway, after just 3 round of matches the Bourges and USVO are topping the table and are the only teams undefeated.

For those looking for information on team rosters in English then you should have a look the two pages on this site. 1and 2

The French clubs have been in Europe this week:
EuroLeague Women success for Bourges and Villeneuve and disappointment for Mondeville and USVO

In the EuroCup a good couple of nights with victores for all four teams, Aix-en-provence Challes-les-eaux, Montpellier and Tarbes.

Céline Dumerc is out of action for three weeks, Iveta Marcauskaite season is over (pregnant)

Five days to the start of the LFB

After the disappointment of Eurobasket 2007, fans of women's basketball in France have a watch all the teams over the coming weekend (October 27/28) in one venue. The matches will also be streamed live over the internet from either www.openlfb.com or WWW.basketfrance.com.

Many players from Eurobasket 2007, CAN 2007 and the Fiba American competition will be on display.

The venue:

Stade Pierre de Coubertin
82 avenue Georges Laffont
75016 Paris

Timetable

Saturday 27th

13h30 AIX-EN-PROVENCE – MOURENX
15h45 LATTES MONTPELLIER - ARRAS
18h15 TARBES – SAINT-AMAND
20h30 VALENCIENNES - REIMS


Sunday 28th

14h00 CLERMONT-FERRAND - VILLENEUVE D'ASCQ
16h15 CHALLES-LES-EAUX - MONDEVILLE
18h30 BOURGES – CALAIS


Commentary team
Francis Denis, Grégory Halin, Ivano Ballarina, Julien Guérineau, Fabrice Canet and Yann Kappes

France beat Italy to close tournament

France finished off the competition in Cervia, Italy with a victory (61-51) against the hosts Italy. Sandrine Gruda marked her authority in this game right from the tip-off scoring the first 8 points for France. France opened the first significant gap early in the second period to lead by nine points. Italy find the energy and resource to inflict a 9:0 run of their own to trail by only 2 points at the interval.

France extended their advantage to five point by the end of 3rd period and killed the game as a contest midway through the final period. In general it is a game that both coaches will have a lot to reflect about. France gave a solid demonstration of what they can do in defence but will have to work on their free throws. Italy have played better and did not do themselves justice in this game. A game that both coaches will want to quickly forget as neither team played well for any significant period of time.

Both teams are in the same group for the European championships and will play each other again on the 26 September.

France 61 - 51 Italy ( 13-10, 15-16,14-11,19-14)

France: Beikes 0, Le Dréan 4, Dumerc 14, Gruda 18, Lawson-Wade 7, Sauret-Gillespie 5, Reghaïssia 3, Gomis 0, Bade 2, Dijon 5, Yacoubou 3

Italy: Franchini 3, Sottana 2 , Zara 6 Zanoli 2 , Modica 0, Masciadri 5, Giauro 2 , Ress 4 , Dacic 6 , Macchi 21

NF1 - Week one round-up

Charleville had an easy road-trip victory against Pleyber Christ (80-39), which was still missing some of their key players. So the return match should be a closer affair.

Dunkerque and Basket Landes continued from where they left off last season and won against Strasbourg (64-41) and Armentières (94-74) respectively. Whereas the newcomer La Roche succumbed to Nantes Rezé (70-54).

Nice coming down from LFB were made to work hard for their victory against newcomer Voiron (87-82) only confirming their superiority after 35 minutes.

Limoges was once again unable to make home-court advantage count as they went down surprisingly to newcomer Rennes (52-57). And another home match defeat for Lyon against Lot et Garonne UST (62-64) will hurt Julie le Bris as her side left it to the last quarter to step up in their game. Despite of the return of Laskova - released by her national team for this weekend only- with her contribution of 20 points, 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 4 interceptions, Lyon were unable to take advantage of her form.

The youngsters from CFBB had no trouble to indisposing of Marseille (83-57): U16 European championship MVP Diandra Tchatchouang hit a game-high 24 points. Already worrying times for Marseille!

CFBB	Marseille	83	57
Basket Landes	Armentières	94	74
Dunkerque	Strasbourg	64	41
Pleyber Christ	Charleville	39	80
Lyon	Lot Gar UST	62	64
Nice	Voiron	87	82
Nantes Rezé	La Roche	70	54
Limoges	Rennes	52	57