LFB (France) 15/2008 - Bourges 67, Villeneuve d'Ascq 50

LFB 2008 2009 J15 Bourges Basket Villeneuve d'Ascq
by Chacha_9

Villeneuve d'Ascq (9-6) has certainly gotten a few steps better since the beginning of the year - they added Iziane Castro Marques to replace Fatua Sacko, and managed to turn things around to at least compete in the Ligue Féminine. However, there are teams playing at another level, like Bourges (14-1). Bourges delivered a decisive 67-50 defeat at home in front of an announced crowd of 2,000 spectators to the visitors of Villeneuve d'Ascq, giving Villeneuve d'Ascq a lot to think about over the break.

The box score is here, and as you can see above, someone made a film of highlights of the game. The problem is that both teams are wearing similar-colored uniforms; it's very hard to tell who is who.

Bourges showed their strength by holding Villeneuve d'Ascq to just seven first quarter points. At halftime, the score was 35-18 in favor of Bourges. Villeneuve had only scored 28 points by the end of the third quarter, and Bourges pulled out their puzzle books in the fourth quarter and relaxed, knowing that there would be no comeback by Villeneuve d'Ascq.

Bourges hit 45 percent of their baskets, compared with a 40 percent rate by Villeneuve d'Ascq. The rebounding rate was even more lopsided in favor of the home team. Villeneuve d'Ascq turned the ball over a couple of times more than Bourges. Villeneuve d'Ascq would not make up anything at the free throw line - Bourges only afforded them ten visits.

Only two players scored in double digits for Bourges - Ana Lelas scored 15 points, and Nwal-Endéné Miyem scored 13 points. Ana Cata-Chitiga scored six points for Bourges, but picked up nine rebounds. Alessandra Santos de Olivera, who last played for the WNBA in 2001, scored only five points in 15 minutes of play.

Geraldine Robert scored 12 points for the visiting Villeneuve d'Ascq and Florence Lepron scored nine points. Iziane Castro Marques scored 10 points, but shot horribly from the field, 4 for 16, and turned the ball over four times.

Villeneuve d'Ascq only played seven players. Jolene Anderson did not play.

(* * *)

With that, regular season play takes a nice long European vacation. The Ligue Féminine will not resume regular-season play until February 7th, 2009.

Villeneuve d'Ascq has been presented with a problem. Iziane Castro Marques was signed by Villeneuve d'Ascq only until December 20th - the goal was that Izi would play just long enough for Fatou Sacko to recover. Izi was expected to be a sort of B-class player. Instead, Izi's play really helped the team turn around.

Fans and press want Villeneuve d'Ascq to sign Iziane Castro Marques for the second half. The question is if Villeneuve d'Ascq has enough cash to sign both players - with the world economy the way it is, does Villeneuve d'Ascq really want to spend that money? No one has heard anything from club management one way or the other, so the French fans don't know if Izi will be back in February. I guess we won't know until February, either.

Euroleague 10/2008 - Riga 77, Villeneuve d'Ascq 70

For Villeneuve d'Ascq (3-7), their Euroleague season only turned around when they picked up Iziane Castro Marques. They had dreams of possibly sneaking into fourth place into Group B - and therefore, the second round - or at least not finishing last.

But it was too little, too late. Weeks before, Villeneuve d'Ascq was mathematically eliminated from further playoff competition and at Riga (4-6), a late Riga run would give Riga a 77-70 win at home, locking Villeneuve d'Ascq into last place in Group C.

The box score is here. A game writeup can be found here.

Villeneuve d'Ascq actually did a fairly good job in the first three quarters: they led 22-14 after the first quarter and held off a Riga comeback, taking a 36-34 lead into halftime. Both teams played evenly in the third quarter and in front of 300 Latvian spectators, Villeneuve d'Ascq held on to a 45-43 lead.

Villeneuve d'Ascq held on to a 60-55 lead with 8:26 to go...and then the unthinkable happened. Riga went on a 14-0 run, and with 5:01 left, Riga was suddenly up 69-60. Villeneuve d'Ascq never got closer than five points to Riga for the rest of the game.

Shooting was fairly even - 44 percent for Villeneuve d'Ascq, 42 percent for Riga. However, Riga picked up twenty offensive rebounds. Iziane Castro Marques had something to say about that:

"TTT (Riga) played well today, they put some pressure on us and we lost the battle for rebounds. We had won five games in a row but today our winning streak came to an end." Riga's dominating rebounding made up for turning the ball over 16 times. Riga also went to the free throw line 14 times to Villeneuve d'Ascq's eight, with each team missing a pair of gimmes.

Riga's leading scorer was Tatyana Troina, with 26 points. Essense Carson - a guard/forward for the New York Liberty last year - scored 11 points for Riga. A pair of Riga players, Ieva Kublina and Aija Brumerman, had 11 and 10 rebounds respectively for Riga.

For Villeneuve d'Ascq, Geraldine Robert's performance was judged the best, with 17 points, eight rebounds and five assists. Fatua Sacko would score 26 points and seven rebounds for the visitors and Laurie Datchy would score 11 points. Iziane Castro Marques would score only nine poitns in 21 minutes of play and Jolene Anderson would score zero points in 19 minutes of play.

As I'm at work, I'll attach the pics later.

LFB (France) 14/2008 - Villeneuve d'Ascq 74, Aix-en-Provence 68

Iziane Castro Marques was only scheduled to be in France as long as Villeneuve d'Ascq (9-5) player Fatuo Sacko remains injured. However, with the way Villeneuve d'Ascq is playing, they must have decided to keep Izi for a while - both Izi and Fauto managed to go on the road and beat Aix-en-Provence (7-7) by a score of 74-68.

The box score is here. Villeneuve d'Ascq has been 6-1 with Izi on their side.

Villeneuve d'Ascq got off to a slow start, falling behind 19-14 in the first quarter and down 37-34 by half. However, Villeneuve d'Ascq outscored Aix-en-Provence 40-31 in the second half to take their ninth win of the year.

Hollie Grima scored 23 points and 14 rebounds to clearly lead all players on Aix-en-Provence. The only other two players to score in double figures were Renae Camino (14 points) and Laurence van Malderen (yes, she's female) with 12 points. K. B. Sharp who played for the Chicago Sky in 2008, scored nine points and played the full 40 minutes.

Five players scored in double figures for Villeneuve d'Ascq. Geraldine Robert scored 17 points, 15 rebounds and five steals - she was clearly the best player of the game. Fatuo Sacko scored 18 points and eight rebounds. Iziane Castro Marques would score 10 points and five rebounds, and Jolene Anderson would score 10 points in 22 minutes of play.

I'm sure pictures will be posted soon.

Villeneuve d'Ascq-Union Hainaut: The Movie

LFB 2008-2009 : J13 VILLENEUVE D'ASCQ / UNION HAINAUT
by esbvalm

Highlights of the Villeneuve d'Ascq-Union Hainaut game. See if you can find Chioma Nnamaka or Iziane Castro Marques. My thoughts:

a) Izi hits a jumper within the first 10 seconds
b) what a repetitive background soundtrack
c) I like the hand-clappers, Europe's answer to thundersticks
d) beware of the evil clown at 0:52 and 1:22
e) the dancers from 2:11 to 2:16 - sorry, but the Shooting Stars dancers are better
f) ESBVA brought their band! (2:17)
g) ...and Union Hainaut brought their band! (2:50)

Great movie! I give it four stars!

Euroleague 9/2008 - Villeneuve d'Ascq 76, Venezia 70

Vanessa Hayden-Johnson is a big girl.

Since being mathematically eliminated from second-round competition, Villeneuve d'Ascq (3-6) had nothing to play for but pride. So they traveled to Venezia (7-2), the top team in Group B, and handed them a 76-70 upset in front of 500 spectators.

The game report is here. The boxscore is here.

This had to be an extremely close game. Get this: the final three quarters were tied. For the second, third, and fourth quarters each team scored 19 points, leaving Villeneuve d'Ascq to carry a 19-13 lead in the first quarter to the end of each of the subsequent quarters.

Villeneuve d'Ascq took a 38-32 lead into halftime. A Jolene Anderson 3-pointer in the third quarter stretched the lead to 11 points with 3:05 remaining in the third, 52-43. Venezia fought back, but couldn't close the gap entire. The home team closed the gap to four points, 68-64, with 1:37 left in the game when Jenifer Nadalin scored on her own offensive rebound. However, Villeneuve d'Ascq would hang on for the win.

Villeneuve d'Ascq shot 49 percent from the field, compared to 46 percent by Venezia. Both teams scored the exact same number of rebounds and scored similarly well at the free throw line, but Venezia would turn the ball over 23 times.

Simona Ballardini would lead all Venezia scorers with 16 points and six rebounds. Daliborka Jokic scored 15 points and Mariangela Cirone scored 10 points for Venezia. Vanessa Hayden-Johnson would score five points and three rebounds in 17 minutes of play, picking up five fouls along the way. Hayden Johnson was a reserve center for the Lynx in 2008.

Iziane Castro Marques would lead Villeneuve d'Ascq to victory, scoring 25 points with 27 shots. Ljubica Drljaca scored 14 points and five rebounds, and Geraldine Robert added 12 points. Jolene Anderson would score nine points.

There is a mini-gallery of pictures at the Euroleague site, and I'll look at the Villeneuve d'Ascq website for more.

Villeneuve d'Ascq-Union Hainaut Pics

Chioma, meet Izi.

There are pictures of the Villeneuve d'Ascq-Union Hainaut game at the Union Hainaut website. You'll have to join the website, but if you're a Chioma Nnamaka/Atlanta Dream fan, you can get your fill of pictures.

LFB (France) 13/2008 - Villeneuve d'Ascq 87, Union Hainaut 69

Union Hainaut (8-5) had hopes of being the best team in the Ligue Féminine, but it seems those hopes are meeting reality - Villeneuve d'Ascq (8-5) has a long history with Union Hainaut's predecessor club (Valenciennes) and had been looking forward to the match, which they would win at home 87-69. I'm not sure if Chioma Nnamaka or Iziane Castro Marques were aware of that history, but they got to meet as opponents for the first time in the Ligue Féminine.

The boxscore is here.

It was a game that went back and forth in the first half, with Villeneuve d'Ascq taking a 43-41 lead into halftime. According to one account, Villeneuve d'Ascq came out aggresive in the second half, winning the third quarter by six points and the final quarter by 11 points. In the second half overall, it was 45-28 for the home team.

Villeneuve d'Ascq outshot Union Hainaut 48 percent to 41 percent. The home team kept down their turnovers, turning the ball over only nine times in the game compared to Union Hainaut's 16. Villenevue d'Ascq would go to the line 22 times and hit 16 of their shots, whereas Union Hainaut only had 13 free throw attempts.

Ljubica Drljaca led all Villeneuve d'Ascq players with 25 points, but it was Geraldine Robert who was the star of the team with 21 points and 17 rebounds, a double double. She earned exactly one half of the team's rebounds all by herself. Iziane Castro Marques earned 17 points, shooting 6 for 13. Jolene Anderson played 21 minutes but only scored three points.

For Union Hainaut, Kathy Wambe and Vedrana Fonseca each scored 11 points. Tiffany Stansbury scored 7 points (and had four turnovers). Chioma Nnamaka scored 5 points, played 16 minutes and had five fouls. I suspect that this is the game that Bernadette Ngoyisa was forced to sit out by the Ligue Féminine due to accumulating too many technical fouls over the season - Ngoyisa played in last weeks game against Landes.

Union Hainaut finally has a new website: http://www.hainaut-basket.com. They have some pictures of last week's game and it looks like they have their act together when it comes to pics. We'll just have to wait for the pics to be posted.

Euroleague 8/2008 - Villeneuve d'Ascq 61, Sopron 55

Geraldine Robert - why don't you show Amber Holt any respect?

The Atlanta Dream might have finished dead last but for a lot of struggling European teams, Dream players have been the difference between winning and losing. Villeneuve d'Ascq wins 61-55 at home, and Sopron falls to 4-4 in Group B.

With a 2-6 record, Villeneuve d'Ascq finds itself in the same position as Nadhezda Orenburg in Group B - hoping to win the last two games and finish in fourth place. Fourth place means you move on to the second round; fifth place means you're dead.

The boxscore is here. A writeup linking to a small gallery can be found here. (No Izi pics. Guess we have to give up our pics to get Sancho Lyttle.)

The first half of the game was marked by instability - Sopron was held to nine first quarter points and Villeneuve d'Ascq was held to nine second quarter points. With the score 30-28 in favor of Sopron, Villeneuve d'Ascq came back to tie it at 45-45 after three quarters. In the fourth quarter, Jolene Anderson sparked an 8-0 run for Villeneuve d'Ascq that secured the win for the home squad.

Sopron shot better than Villeneuve d'Ascq - 46 percent to 41 percent - but it turns out to be misleading. First, Sopron took fewer shots. Second, Villeneuve d'Ascq went 7-for-17 behind the arc - Sopron went 0 for 10; all of their field goals were worth two points. Villeneuve d'Ascq was also slighty better at the offensive boards.

Ljubica Drljaca had 15 points, five rebounds and seven assists for Villeneuve d'Ascq. Geraldine Robert scored 17 points. Iziane Castro Marques scored 12 points, but it took her 17 shots to make those points. Jolene Anderson picked up nine points.

Three players finished in double figures for Sopron: Jelena Milovanovic scored 16 points, Katalin Honti scored 10 points and three rebounds, and Amber Holt scored 10 points and five rebounds. Holt is a rookie forward with the Connectict Sun.

Catching Up

We've made it to Texas. I want to at least get some results and boxscores up.

WCBA

Beijing 82, Guangdong 63: Beijing (7-5) hits 70 percent of their two points shots, and holds Guangdong (6-6) to eight points in the third quarter. Jennifer Lacy scored seven points and two rebounds in the win. Chasity Melvin of the Chicago Sky scored 14 points and seven rebounds for Guangdong.

Jiangsu 96, Zhejiang 72: Zhejiang (0-12) remains without a win this year as Jiangsu (8-4) wins easily at home. Ann Strother scored 17 points and five rebounds for Jiangsu, which stays in third place.

Euroleague

Gambrinus 81, Villeneuve d'Ascq 61: All CSKA Moscow games in Group B have been erased as the Moscow superteam has declared bankruptcy. Villeneuve d'Ascq (1-4) gets rid of two losses, but picks up another one against Gambrinus (2-4), which has no trouble with Villeneuve d'Ascq. However, with only five teams in Group B now, Villeneuve d'Ascq merely needs to finish fourth, and it has already beaten last place team Riga once.

For Gambrinus, Hamcheto Maiga-Ba scored 13 points and six rebounds. Tamika Whitmore scored 14 points. For Villeneuve d'Ascq, Iziane Castro Marques scored 11 points and Jolene Anderson scored six points.

Update on CSKA Moscow

Supposedly, CSKA Moscow will no longer compete in Euroleague games, either.

I have no idea how Euroleague will handle this. Villeneuve d'Ascq - Iziane Castro Marques's new team - is in the same group that second place CSKA Moscow was in. Villeneuve d'Ascq was in fifth place in Group B in Euroleague.

If Euroleague decides to choose the top four of the remaining five Group B teams, this gives Villeneuve d'Ascq a fighting chance. Of course, Euroleague could just give automatic wins to the four teams that haven't played Moscow twice yet. Which is a pity for Villeneuve d'Ascq - they were the only team that CSKA Moscow got around to playing twice and Villeneuve d'Ascq dropped both games.

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.

Euroleague 6/2008 - Moscow 88, Villeneuve d'Ascq 79

"Janel I stp on yr foot." "OW MAI FOOT!!"

What is that they say about "any given day"? Isn't that supposed to be a football thing? Don't teams like CSKA Moscow (4-2) get what they want when it comes to Euroleague? Didn't they beat Villeneuve d'Ascq (1-5) by 52 points to open Euroleague play?

I guess that having home court advantage changes things. Against a relatively packed home court of 1600 spectators, Villeneuve d'Ascq came this close to upsetting Moscow, losing 88-79.

The boxscore is here. The writeup is here.

Looking at the quarter-by-quarter score, Villeneuve d'Ascq had a successful first half. They led 24-21 after the first 10 minutes and took a 47-41 lead into halftime. Moscow closed the gap to a bucket after the third quarter, 64-62.

For the first part of the fourth quarter it was the same story: Moscow would tie. Villeneuve d'Ascq would get the next bucket. And so on. The last time that Villeneuve d'Ascq had the lead was at 70-68 with 6:49 remaining. Becky Hammon on the Moscow team would score a three-pointer to put Moscow in the lead for the first time, and Katie Douglas and Becky Hammon would add five more quick points to go up 76-70. Moscow would never lose the lead from that point.

It was definitely a close game with lots of great play. Villeneuve d'Ascq shot 50 percent and Moscow shot 53 percent. Moscow would edge Villeneuve d'Ascq in the battle of the boards. Both teams kept turnovers low (only 11 turnovers for each team in the entire game), and both teams were miserable at the free throw line. Moscow simply muscled their way to a win.

Iziane Castro Marques was the human highlight for Villeneuve d'Ascq. She played almost the entire game, and scored 25 points in just 17 shots - very efficient. Ljubica Drljaca scored 20 points and seven rebounds, and Geraldine Robert scored a double double with 16 points and 11 rebounds. Jolene Anderson played for 15 minutes, but didn't score a single point - if she or Florence Lepron (26 minutes, two points) had stepped up Villeneuve d'Ascq might have won.

As for the All-Star team that calls itself "CSKA Moscow", Ann Wauters (San Antonio Silver Stars) scored 23 points, 11 rebounds and four assists to lead the faux Muscovites. All of the Americans scored in double figures. Becky Hammon (San Antonio Silver Stars) scored 18 points and five assists, Janel McCarville (New York Liberty) scored 16 points, eight rebounds and four assists, and Katie Douglas (Indiana Fever) scored 16 points.

LFB (France) 10/2008 - Villeneuve d'Ascq 68, Nantes 64

After losing four games in Euroleague, Villeneuve d'Ascq (5-5) finally won their first game this week. Do you think, therefore, that they would be considerate of the struggles of Nantes (0-10), which hadn't won a game in the French League this season? Do you think Izi would be mindful of the Atlanta Dream's 0-17 streak to start the season?

No. With the help of Iziane Castro Marques's first half play, Villeneuve d'Ascq held off a fourth-quarter comeback from the home team to beat Nantes on the road, 68-64.

The boxscore for the game is here.

Villeneuve would win every quarter except for the final one. They took a 36-28 into halftime. Iziane Castro Marques would score 18 points in the first half, half of Villeneuve d'Ascq's total points. She wouldn't score another point in the second quarter, but she wouldn't need to.

In terms of shooting percentage, Reze outshot Villeneuve d'Ascq 49 percent to 42 percent. However, Villeneuve d'Ascq simply took more shots to make up the deficit. Villeneuve d'Ascq crushed Nantes in offensive rebounds, 16 to seven. Nantes's better free throw shooting - they hit 12 of 17 for 70 percent - wasn't enough to make up the difference.

Michelle Van Gorp led Nantes with 23 points, shooting 8 for 11 with seven rebounds. Van Gorp last played for the Minnesota Lynx. Yulila Andreyeva scored 18 points for Nantes, and Jessica Moore, a forward-center for the Los Angeles Sparks, scored 10 points and five assists.

Iziane Castro Marques scored 19 points and Ljubica Drljaca and Géraldine Robert scored 14 points each. Jolene Anderson, a rookie guard with the Connecticut Sun, added four points to the Villeneuve d'Ascq road win.

Pictures will come when I can find them.

Euroleague 5/2008 - Villeneuve d'Ascq 71, Riga 53

Iziane Castro Marques asks a player from Riga, "Which side is my best side?"

For the last four games in Euroleague, Villeneuve d'Ascq (1-4) had been looking for a win and getting nowhere. There was a real danger of going 0-5, so if Villeneuve d'Ascq wanted to make its own luck, they would have to beat Riga (1-4), a Latvian team only one place head of them in Group B. Villeneuve d'Ascq administered a 71-53 beating to Riga at home in front of over 1,000 spectators.

The writeup is here. The writeup makes it sound as if the outcome of the game was never in doubt.

The boxscore is here.

Villeneuve d'Ascq led every quarter, taking a 40-23 lead into halftime. By the end of the third quarter, Villeneuve d'Ascq led 58-37, and at one time Villeneuve d'Ascq led by 30 points, 68-38. Riga went on a 15-3 run to finish the game, but I suspect Villeneuve was thinking about a hot meal at home by that time.

It wasn't a great shooting game from either team, each team shooting under 40 percent. Villeneuve d'Ascq led in both offensive and defensive rebounding, and had fewer turnovers. Villeneuve d'Ascq shot 84 percent from the line, with Riga only shooting 50 percent.

Five players for Villenueve d'Ascq shot in double figures, and two had double-doubles! Geraldine Robert had 21 points and 15 rebounds, and Martina Rejchová scored 10 points and 10 rebounds. Iziane Castro Marques scored 10 points (but it took her 19 shots to do it). Jolene Anderson contributed 11 points.

Essence Carson scored 14 points, but turned the ball over seven times. Carson was a rookie for the New York Liberty last year. Tatyana Troina scored 11 points. Two players rolled seven-come-eleven: Elizaveta Kityzina and Ieva Kublina scored seven points and 11 rebounds each.

LFB (France) 9/2008 - Challes-les-Eaux 70, Villeneuve d'Ascq 64

With Bourges and Tarbes dominating the French league, the teams in the middle of the back - which includes just about all of them - are looking to make a break for the top. Both Challes-les-Eaux and Villeneuve d'Ascq were tied at 4-4 going in. Which team would win?

Not Iziane Castro Marques's new team, unfortunately. Villeneuve d'Ascq would lose to Challes-les-Eaux on the road, 70-64.

The boxscore for the game is here.

Challes-les-Eaux took an 11-point lead after the first quarter, and Villeneuve d'Ascq could only close to within eight points by halftime, 40-32. Challes-les-Eaux managed to keep things even during both quarters of the second half, and got the win to move them beyond .500 in the French League at 5-4.

Challes-les-Eaux outscored Villeneuve d'Ascq 45 percent to 37 percent in the game. Both teams were aggressive at the boards, but Challes-les-Eaux took a slight edge over the visitors.

Both teams had the same number of turnovers, but Villeneuve d'Ascq took more free throws than Challes-les-Eaux. Unfortunately for Villeneuve d'Ascq, both teams shot the same at the free throw line - 66 percent.

For Challes-les-Eaux, Carly Wilson - an Australian player - scored 18 points and Martina Luptakova-Gyurski added 19 points and 5 rebounds. Silvia Janostinova-Bedu and Ivone Bogoje each had 11 rebounds. Kirby Copeland, a former Virginia Tech player, scored four points.

Géraldine Robert scored 21 points and 11 rebounds for visiting Villeneuve d'Ascq. Iziane Castro Marques scored 19 points, but also had three turnovers and three fouls. It took Castro Marques 22 shots to score those 19 points for some inefficient shooting on Castro Marques's part. Milijana Evtoukhovitch scored 11 points and 9 rebounds. Jolene Anderson was only able to score two points in 20 minutes.

ESBVA is usually good at posting pictures. When I have some, I'll add some photographic flavor.

Euroleague 4/2008 - Venice 81, Villeneuve d'Ascq 63

You can't say Izi isn't working hard.

I just found out this morning about this Euroleague game that took place on Wednesday . Normally, I keep up with what's going on around the world but I had a lot of difficulty finding out news about Iziane in France. I would search for "Villeneuve d'Ascq" and "Villeneuve d'Ascq Marques" but get a paucity of results.

When I was clued in on a Euroleague game that had taken place yesterday, I found out the problem. The Euroleague was calling this team "ESB Lille Metropole", which has nothing (in spelling) to do with "Villeneuve d'Ascq". It seems the full name of Iziane Castro Marques's new team is "Entente Sportive Basket Villeneuve d'Ascq Lille Métropole" which can go under the following names and initials:


Entente Sportive Basket Villeneuve d'Ascq Lille Métropole
Entente Sportive Basket Lille Métropole
l'ESVBA
ESVBA-LM
"ESV Lille Metropole"
Villeneuve d'Ascq

Good grief. No matter what you call them, they were 0-3 in the Euroleague coming into the game against Venice.
Venice was undefeated in Group B - even CSKA Moscow was only 3-1 - and Venice upped its record to 4-0 in Group B with a 81-63 win over (insert given choice from column above). No matter what you call them, Villeneuve d'Ascq has fallen to 0-4 in Euroleague play and things are starting to look desperate.

The game writeup is here. The boxscore is here. There is a small gallery of pictures attached which you can view on your own. (I'll attach one to the main article later this afternoon.)

Venice came right out of the gate with a 9-0 run to start the first quarter, but Villeneuve d'Ascq marched right back to close the game to within one point, 21-20, at the end of the first quarter. Venice extended its lead to 37-31, and felt confident going into halftime.

In front of 1300 spectators at home, Villeneuve d'Ascq began to battle back. They fought back hard, and managed to eclipse Venice, taking a six point lead at one time in the third quarter, 49-43. They took another six point lead, 53-47, but Venice closed out the third quarter with a 7-0 run to lead 54-43 after three quarters.

And then, as French newspaper La Voix du Nord puts it, "...then the Venetian blind was dropped." Venice outscored the home team 27-10 in the final quarter. As one French website sarcastically put it, "(Villeneuve d'Ascq) gave everything they had...for thirty minutes."

Venice outshot Villeneuve d'Ascq 52 percent to 43 percent. Furthermore, Venice went 8 for 16 behind the arc, adding to the damage. Venice won the battle of both offensive rebounding and total rebounding. They only had one fewer free throw than Villeneuve d'Ascq and only one more turnover. There was just nowhere in the boxscore for Villeneuve d'Ascq to squeeze out a win.

French media praised Iziane Castro Marques's talent, even if they couldn't identify who she was. (Take a look at this translated lineup. That ain't Izi. Izi wears #4. #9 is Laurie Datchy, who doesn't look at all like Izi.)

Iziane Castro Marques would lead all Villeneuve d'Ascq players with 16 points and four rebounds. She wasn't the top performer however - it took 22 shots for Izi to get 16 points, and trust me, the Atlanta Dream should be well aware of Izi's inefficient shooting. The player for Villeneuve d'Ascq was Florence Lepron, with 14 points (on 50 percent shooting) and eight rebounds. Jolene Anderson, a rookie for the Connecticut Sun this year, did not play.

Simona Ballardini would lead Venice with 27 points. Daliborka Jokic would score 16 points and Mery Andrade would had a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Vanessa Hayden would score nine points and seven rebounds in 18 minutes of play. Hayden was a center for the Minnesota Lynx this year.

(You should read her Wikipedia article. Interesting stuff. Did you know she had a collection of 200 teddy bears? The fascinating things you can learn when following international basketball.)

Abdou N'Diaye, the coach of Villeneuve d'Ascq, was pessimistic about his clubs Euroleague chances. "Go to the quarter finals? We will not sell dreams when we don't have the means." However, with the top four teams in each group going to the next round, there's no need for Villeneuve d'Ascq to give up just yet.

Video of Izi in France

LFB: ESBVA / CALAIS - 8ÈME JOURNÉE 2008/2009
by esbvalm

This is video of the Villeneuve-d'Ascq-Calais match. Villeneuve-d'Ascq is in white. Calais is in the dark stripes. Iziane Castro Marques is wearing #4 for Villeneuve-d'Ascq.

You can see Izi at the :47 minute mark (adjusting jersey), 1:04, 2:33, and 3:03 (making a free throw).

I like how the video looks like a sort of movie, shot at angles, with a weird technobeat in the background. For a few seconds around 2:24, the sound goes to natural sound, then the beat comes back. Sounds like someone's been reading Cahiers du cinéma when not filming for the French league.

LFB (France) 8/2008 - Calais 83, Villeneuve d'Ascq 76

Villeneuve d'Ascq (4-4) was in a bad spot. They had just lost Fatimatou Sacko with an ankle injury. Needing a player that could hopefully replace her 14.8 points and 6.8 rebounds a game, Villeneuve d'Ascq offered Iziane Castro Marques a seven-week contract. Izi hopped on a plane to France on Saturday, and was thrown into the rotation. Down 18 points going into the fourth quarter against Calais (4-4), Villeneuve d'Ascq staged a mini-comeback but fell short, 83-76 to the visitors.

Calais led 43-30 at the half and extended the lead even further in the third quarter to a 68-50 lead. Perhaps 18 points was just too much to overcome with a new player worked into the rotation and with Villeneuve d'Ascq only able to put eight players on the floor.

The boxscore for the game is here.

Calais certainly took advantage, shooting 54 percent against Villeneuve d'Ascq's 44 percent. Villeneuve d'Ascq, however, was able to outrebound the visitors 37-30 despite Izi's contribution of a single rebound to the Villeneuve d'Ascq cause.

Free throw shooting - why does it seem such a common theme in European games. Calais sent Villeneuve d'Ascq to the free throw line 25 times - but Villeneuve d'Ascq couldn't hit anything. They shot 48 percent from the line, and it would have been 38 percent without Izi's 5 for 7 performance. As for Calais, they hit 83 percent from the line.

How did Iziane Castro Marques do on her first day? She got 10 points on 13 shots - not great but not bad either considering the jet lag. Furthermore, she was only one of three players from Villeneuve d'Ascq that scored in double figures. Jolene Anderson, a rookie this year with the Connecticut Sun, scored 25 points and five rebounds for Villeneuve d'Ascq. Ljubica Drljaca added 19 points and five rebound. Géraldine Robert almost had a double double with nine points and 14 total rebounds.

Calais's Lauren Neaves would lead all players with a double double of 24 points and 14 rebounds. Aurélie Cibert would contribute 16 points and 7 rebounds. Olayinka Sanni, a rookie for the Detroit Shock this year, would add nine points and four rebounds.

Pictures will come when I can find them, of course.