LFB (France) - 11/2008 - Villeneuve d'Ascq 77, Montpellier 69

Two of the five teams tied at 5-5 in the French league were looking for an important win - with two undefeated teams and no team better than 6-4, every team needs all the attention it can get. Against Montpellier (5-6), home field advantage might have provided a little bit of help as Villeneuve d'Ascq (6-5) won 77-69 in front of a crowd of 1,100 spectators.

The boxscore is here.

It was actually a close game for the first half. Montpelier only led one in the first quarter, and by halftime, the game was tied 42-42. In the third quarter, Villeneuve d'Ascq marched out to a six point lead and outscored Montpellier 35-27 over the course of the final twenty minutes.

Montpellier outshot the visitors 44 percent to 41 percent. It was Villeneuve d'Ascq, however, that won the battle of rebounding on both the offensive and total rebounding sides of the coin. Furthermore, Montpellier turned the ball over 22 times. Those two keys of the game made the difference for Villeneuve d'Ascq against Montpellier's slightly superior shooting.

Four players scored in double figures for Villeneuve d'Ascq. Géraldine Robert led all scorers for Villeneuve d'Ascq with 22 points and 8 rebounds. Iziane Castro Marques would score 18 points, but it would take 23 shots for Izi to score all of those points - the 18 points are misleading. Milijana Evtoukhovitch scored 10 points and 11 rebounds for Villeneuve d'Ascq, the only player on either side to score a double-double. Jolene Anderson played for 25 minutes but only had four points to show for it.

As for Montpellier, Sheana Mosch led all plyers with 22 points and four assists. Three other players scored in double figures for Montpellier, including Elodie Bertal with 14 points and seven rebounds. Khadijah Whittington, who played for the Indiana Fever this year, was out for Montpellier with an injury.

Pictures will either come or not come. C'est la vie.