LFB (France) 3/2008 - Union Hainaut 73, Nantes 57

After leading 33-31 at halftime, Union Hainaut (3-0) blew out Nantes (0-3) with a 21-12 third quarter. Only Union Hainaut, Bourges, and Tarbes are undefeated in the Ligue Feminine de BasketBall this season.

The PDF boxscore of the match can be found here.

Both teams shot equally well - 42 percent for Union Hainaut, 39 percent for Nantes. Rebounds were almost equal for both teams, but Union Hainaut crushed Nantes on the offensive boards 14 to 6. Nantes more than made up for it at the free throw line, going 26 times as opposed to the 10 times that Union Hainaut went.

Most likely, it was turnovers that killed Nantes. Nantes made 26 turnovers, compared to just 12 from Union Hainaut. Nantes only shot 69 percent from the charity stripe, indicating that they didn't get much out of their multiple freebies (Union Hainaut did worse - 5 for 10). But when you have a -14 in turnovers, that's like giving the other team a good 10 to 14 points right there. Given the fact that Nantes made 29 turnovers in its first game, and 28 in its second, it's hard to think of 26 turnovers - six or seven per quarter - as an improvement. I'll be surprised if Nantes wins a game this season.

Union Hainaut has added Tiffany Stansbury to its roster. She was last seen with the Minnesota Lynx last year, where she averaged 4.3 points a game. She would score six points for Union Hainaut in the first time I've seen her this year in a boxscore. Bernadette Ngoyisa was awful, going 1 for 7 in shooting for two points. The leading scorer was...

...are you ready?....

...are you sure you're ready?....

Chioma Nnamaka. Stone the crows! She scored nineteen points with 8 for 14 shooting. I think I'd have to dig back to her final season at Georgia Tech before I could find Chioma Nnamaka actually scoring 19 points in a game!

Michelle van Gorp is a name you might remember from the WNBA. Her final year was with the Minnesota Lynx in 2004. (Between 2002 and 2005, Van Gorp was also the only WNBA player that was openly out of the closet.) Van Gorp scored eight points for Nantes, with Kaela Chapdelaine leading all players with 16 points. Neither player helped Nantes Much - van Gorp turned the ball over five times, Chapdelaine turned it over four - but they were no match for Marie Vicente Santa Cruz, who lost the handle eight times during the game.