Open LFB 2007 Wrap Up

The Open LFB was almost ruined before the start due to the issue of Tarbes signing a 3rd non European National on their roster as medical cover for a French international player. It went as far as team owners planning not to play against Tarbes if they line up with more than two non bosman players on their roster. Iciss Tillis was subsequently withdrawn from the weekend encounter and the opening day was saved.


The first match of the weekend brought together Mourenx and Aix-en-Provence together. The first 3 quarters belonged to Aix-en-Provence and in particular Nathalie Lesdema. Leading comfortably (57-48) going into the final period, victory look on the card for Aix but with nothing to lose. Mourenx started to release shots from beyond the arc and quickly reduced their deficit and tied the (64-64) to take the game into overtime. Aix had four opportunities in the last 83 seconds during regulation time to win the game but some how managed to miss each time.

The overtime was fast furious and exciting with Aix leading the way only to pegged back by trey after trey. Beatrice Castets then buried Aix for good when she hit her teams 9th 3-pointer of the night 7 second s before the end to give Mourenx the victory (74-72). Aix-en-Provence only hit two 3-pointer all evening, they are already missing Cathy Joens.

The second match was dull in comparison to the fireworks of the first game and was over as contest by half-time. Montpellier in total control won the match (86-58). The 3rd game between Tarbes and St Amand was not great to watch, Tarbes out of sorts as they lost their inside link were unable to construct any moves inside did most of their work from outside. St Amand also have a young side and despite keeping the game close for 25 minutes lost out when Laure Savasta decided to take things into her hands by accelerating the pace of the game with a couple of treys which in turned inspired Kirsten Mann to do the rest as Tarbes ran out comfortable winners (66-53)

The final game of the evening was a general credit to women’s basketball and had everybody on their feet., that is to say both set of fans and the neutrals. USVO took a while to get into this game which resulted in an exciting first quarter with Reims giving everything in the battle. USVO then as expected dominated the second quarter and by the 28th minutes had a 20-point lead. Reims then went on the riot and hit 11 consecutive points in the last couple of minutes in the period Reims made it a 2-point game (58-56) with the game reaching crutch time. Francesca Zara came to the rescue of USVO with some of her trademark moves, and with Nicole Ohlde in support USVO held on to win (67-64). Another interesting statistic from this match was that of Laurie Koehn who hit 6-of-6 from the land of plenty in her 20 point haul.

None of the games on the second day matched the intensity of the first and last match of day one, all the games were decided by the end of the third period. Villeneuve had no answer for Pauline Krawczyk as they crashed to Clermont-Ferrand (72-58). Corinne Benintendi the head coach of Challes-les-Eaux used the pairing of Jackson and Davenport to good effect as her side beat Mandeville (74-59). Bourges had a difficult start but once they settled down had no problems beating Calais (89-63).

Interviews with Grace Daley and Liz Moeggenberg