LFB (France) 15/2008 - Union Hainaut 52, Challes-les-Eaux 49

With a month off looming ahead, Union Hainaut (9-6) must have been hoping for a Villeneuve d'Ascq loss and a chance to move into fourth place in the Ligue Féminine. Despite the fact that they beat visiting Challes-Les-Eaux (10-5) by a score of 52-49, Union Hainaut certainly thought that they'd be at the top of the French League instead of sitting in fifth place and being flushed out of Euroleague play.

The box score is here. Union Hainaut puts an end to a five-game losing streak stretching over French League and Euroleague play.

It was either a defensive struggle for both teams or an offensive mess. At halftime, the score was only 24-19 in favor of Union Hainaut. Challes-les-Eaux was only able to score six second-quarter points. At one point, Union Hainaut led 34-22, but Challes-les-Eaux staged a comeback in the third quarter with an 11-0 run and Union Hainaut's lead was cut to one point, 38-37 at the end of the third quarter.

According to Women's Basketball in France, Emilie Duvivier of Challes-les-Eaux hit a shot to put the visitors in the lead. It didn't last long, however, as Union Hainaut went on a 7-0 run to go up 50-43. Somehow, Union Hainaut managed to hang on for the victory as they would only score with two more points for the rest of the game.

Shooting wasn't good on either side - Union Hainaut only shot 35 percent from the field, but Challes-les-Eaux only shot 33 percent. There wasn't much offensive rebounding from either side. Challes-les-Eaux was just a bit more sloppy with the ball, turning the ball over 20 times. They would also get no help at the free throw line, going to the line only four times and earning only three points from free throws.

Bernadette Ngoyisa was the player of the game for Union Hainaut, scoring 12 points and 11 rebounds for a double-double. Tiffany Stansbury also had a great game, scoring four points, six rebounds and four steals. Chioma Nnamaka would only score six points and even though Clémence Biekes scored 11 points, she missed three free throws and had three turnovers. Most of her points were third-quarter points.

Laina Badiane would score nine points and seven rebounds for Challes-les-Eaux. Martina Luptakova-Gyursci scored 10 points, the only player to score in double figures for Challes-les-Eaux. Kirby Copeland, a former Virginia Tech player, would score two points in 13 minutes of play.

Euroleague 10/2008 - Ekaterinburg 85, Union Hainaut 56

Sandrine Gruda, busy NOT playing for France.

Union Hainaut (3-7) needed to have to things happen in order to advance to the second round of Euroleague. They'd have to beat Group C leader Ekaterinburg (9-1) on the final game of first round play...in Russia. Second, Prague would have to lose its game to Gdynia.

Not only did Prague beat Gdynia, but Ekaterinburg delivered an 85-56 whipping of Hainaut that will leave Union Hainaut fans numb.

The writeup of the game is here. The box score is here.

The game report pretty much says it all. Ekaterinburg trailed 2-1 in the first quarter. Then, Ekaterinburg would score seventeen straight points to go up 18-1 in the first. Union Hainaut was held to four first quarter points. The first quarter finished 26-4.

At halftime, it was 55-12. That's right, Union Hainaut scored 12 points in 20 minutes of play. That's when you pull out the Sudoku if you're on the Ekaterinburg bench.

Ekaterinburg shot 55 percent from the field compared to Union Hainaut's 35 percent. Ekaterinburg made more 2-point baskets that Union Hainaut made in 2-point and 3-point buckets combined. Ekaterinburg made more rebounds and forced Union Hainaut to cough up the ball 22 times. Union Hainaut also sent Ekaterinburg to the free throw line 23 times.

Ugh.

Oddly enough, it wasn't one of the American players doing the heavy lifting for Ekaterinburg. The best performance was probably from Sandrine Gruda (Connecticut Sun), who scored 15 points and had five rebounds. To have Gruda on a Russian team instead of a French team must be making someone in the French basketball hierarchy very unhappy. Maria Stepanova (Phoenix Suns, 2005) would score 11 points and seven rebounds.

The minutes were fairly evenly spread around, with no player playing more than 27 minutes on Ekaterinburg. Deanna Nolan (Detroit Shock) scored seven points. Yelena Leuchanka (Washington Mystics 2007, possibly Atlanta Dream 2009) scored six points and five rebounds. Cappie Pondexter (Phoenix Mercury) scored five points. Svetlana Abrosimova (Connecticut Sun) scored 11 points and five assists. If you had WNBA pedigree, it was a good day.

Only one player for Hainaut would score in double figures - oddly enough, Hainaut's player of the game was Chioma Nnamaka with 11 points and four rebounds. Melanie Plust would score nine points for Union Hainaut. Bernadette Ngoyisa would score four points in 23 minuts and Tiffany Stansbury would score two points in 18 minutes.

There are pictures from this game, but they're at work, so I can't post them. Definitely will post later.

LFB (France) 14/2008 - Calais 90, Union Hainaut 69

It just seems to go up and down for Union Hainaut (8-6). A few weeks ago, they were fighting for third place in the LFB (France) but after a 90-69 whipping by Calais (8-6) on the road, it looks like Union Hainaut might be fighting to keep its record above .500 as the second half of the French season begins.

The box score is here.

Calais and Union Hainaut were evenly matched at first, the score ending 17-17 after the first 10 minutes, but Union Hainaut would be held to 15 points in each of the second and third quarters. Calais led 42-32 at haltime, extended the lead to 63-47 after three quarters, and the game was effectively over.

The home team out-shot Union Hainaut 54 percent to 35 percent. Union Hainaut fought back on the offensive boards, scoring 14 offensive rebounds to Calais's six.

However, Union Hainaut would send Calais to the free throw line an astonishing 37 times, and Calais would hit 28 of their shots. Union Hainaut would be sent to the line 29 times in a foul-prone game, but only hit 20 shots. Two players - Tiffany Stansbury and Kathy Wambe - would foul out for Union Hainaut.

Anne-Sophie Pagnier scored 20 points for Calais and Lauren Neaves had a double double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. Sara Leemans scored 13 points and Olayinka Sanni, a rookie with the Detroit Shock this year, scored 11 points and three rebounds.

Only two players would score in double digits for Union Hainaut - Bernadette Ngoyisa scored 16 points and was a one-woman rebounding machine, scoring 17 rebounds, one short of half of Union Hainaut's total rebounds. Clémence Biekes scored 13 points. Chioma Nnamaka scored eight points, and Tiffany Stansbury scored only two points in her eight minutes of play before fouling out.

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 - Ros Casares 91, Union Hainaut 61

After today's Euroleague match, there would be only one more game before teams advanced to the second round. Ros Casares (7-2) had an outside chance of finishing first in Group C, but the outcome of their game against Union Hainaut (3-6) didn't matter much - Ekaterinburg beat Prague 103-57, pretty much securing first place in Group C.

Union Hainaut had to win both of its remaining games to secure a chance to go onto Euroleague. They would have to beat El Ros, a team that beat them 48 points in Spain. In France this time, the outcome was different - they only lost by thirty points, 91-61, at home in front of 1100 spectators.

The boxscore is here.

According to the game report, the score was close...for the first 15 minutes. Ros Casares led 27-25, and then started to pull away. It was 41-32 at halftime, 71-47 after three quarters and Ros Casares added six more points in the fourth.

It was simply a matter of scoring - Ros Casares hit 51 percent of their shots and Union Hainaut only hit 39 percent. Believe it or not, Union Hainaut had more offensive rebounds than Ros Casares. Ros Casares, however, went 16 for 18 from the free throw line.

Clémence Biekes led all Union Hainaut scorers with 10 points. Vedrana Grgin Fonseca scored nine points and five rebounds, and Laetitia Kamba scored four points and eight rebounds. Tiffany Stansbury would score eight points and Chioma Nnamaka would score four for Union Hainaut.

For Ros Casares, four players scored in double figures. Amaya Valdemoro socred 19 points to lead all players on both teams. Delisha Milton-Jones scored 17 and Roneeka Hodges scored 13. Erika de Souza would only play 14 minutes and score four points - they didn't need her much in a blowout win.

Union Hainaut doesn't have the pictures up on the hainaut-basket.com site just yet. I'll post them when they get there.

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 - Gdynia 86, Union Hainaut 62

A win would have differentiated Union Hainaut (3-5) from the teams below it, putting the French squad in third place with two games to go in the first round of Euroleague. Instead, Union Hainaut traveled to Gdynia (3-5) and lost, 86-62, in front of 1700 Polish spectators.

The loss forces a three-way tie for third place in Group C. Sure, if Union Hainaut wins their next two Euroleague games, they could make it to the second round. Unfortunately, the next two games for Union Hainaut are against Ros Casares (6-2) at home and Ekaterinburg (7-1) on the road.

The box score is here.

Union Hainaut lost every quarter of the game. Down by only five points at halftime, 37-34, Gydnia scored 30 points in the third quarter and turned a five point lead into an 18 point lead. They would win going away easily.

Gdynia outshot Union Hainaut 55 percent to 39 percent. How do you make that up? You don't make it up with three extra offensive rebounds. You don't make it up with one fewer turnover. And you sure as hell don't make it up by sending Gdynia to the free throw line 21 times.

Gdynia's two WNBA acquisitions would lead the team in scoring. Alana Beard led all players on both teams with 22 points and eight rebounds. Monique Currie would score 19 points and three rebounds, and Ivana Matovic would score 15 points. Beard and Currie both play for the Washington Mystics.

For the visiting "Panthers", Sabrina Reghaissia would score 11 points to lead Union Hainaut and Vedrana Grgin Fonseca would score 10 points. The player of the game for Union Hainaut, however, was Tiffany Stansbury, with eight points and eight rebounds.

As for Chioma Nnamaka, she was held scoreless in twenty minutes of play. She only took one shot. I don't know if that was deliberate or not.

Euroleague Results

Nadezhda Orenberg 82, Halcion Avenda 63. What a difference Betty Lennox makes! After not winning a single game in Group A of Euroleague, Nadezdha (1-6) finally defeats a Halcion Avenda (5-2) team that beat them in Spain. About 2,500 spectators got to see Betty's debut.

Shameka Christon led all Nadezhda players with 20 points and six rebounds. Betty Lennox had a fairly decent game for Nadezhda - 17 points on 24 shots. At least, it's better than a lot of debuts after extended layoffs. (However, a poster at RebKell notes that most of Noox's points were garbage points, scored when Nadezhda was up by 15.)

Le'Coe Willingham led Halcion Avenda with 16 points. Other American/NCAA/WNBA performances were by Donette Snow (7 points) and by Paula Clocan (2 points).

Ros Casares 88, Prague 69. Erika de Souza remains injured, but her team climbs to 5-2 in Group B, getting a little closer to mathematically securing a spot in the second round.

Union Hainaut 80, Sibenik 69. Union Hainaut climbs to 3-4 in Group B with three games left, and 3-4 is good for third place when you have Ekaterinburg and Ros Casares in your group.

Five players scored in double figures for Union Hainaut, including Bernadette Ngoyisa with 17 and Chioma Nnamaka with 10. Constance Jinks scored 24 points for Sibenik, with Kerri Gardin pitching in 11.

Ngoyisa Suspended for One Game

Reading the French media, it appears that Bernadette Ngoyisa of Union Hainaut has been suspended for one game due to picking up her third technical foul of the season. At least, that's what I *think* the reason is. The suspension will take place during the Union Hainaut-Villeneuve d'Ascq game on December 7th.

I'll ask someone who knows more about Ligue Feminine basketball than I do to confirm this.

LFB (France) 11/2008 - Union Hainaut 64, Tarbes 62

Just last year, the Valenciennes and Saint-Amand teams in the French League could expect to find themselves at or near the top of the league. When those two clubs combined to become Union Hainaut (7-4), they found themselves looking up at the top for the first time. Despite a slow start and unimpressive slew of Euroleague games, Union Hainaut marched into Tarbes (10-1) and sent Tarbes to its very first loss this year in either the French League or Euroleague as the visitors scored an upset, 64-62.

The boxscore is here.

It looked as if Tarbes could keep Union Hainaut away form a win. They led 34-24 at halftime, and probably expected to expand the lead. Instead, Union Hainaut kept up with Tarbes in the third quarter and were still within 10 points, 51-41. In the fourth quarter, Union Hainaut held the home team to 11 points and managed a come from behind victory - down 58-57 with just two minutes left, Bernadette Ngoyisa scored five consecutive points for Union Hainaut to lead them to third place in the French League.

Based on shooting percentage, someone reading the boxscore would expect Tarbes to win automatically - they shot 49 percent compared to Union Hainaut's 40 percent. Rebounding was even, but Union Hainaut picked up six offensive boards compared to Tarbes's two. Furthermore, Tarbes turned the ball over six more times than Union Hainaut. Union Hainaut also shot 90 percent from the free throw stripe and scored three more free throws than Union Hainaut. Add to that the fact that Tarbes only hit one 3-point shot and Union Hainaut found enough space in the boxscore - so to speak - to edge out a win.

For hometeam Tarbes, Isabelle Yacoubou-Dehoui led all players with 21 points and nine rebounds. Ndeye Ndiaye had 17 points and seven rebounds but also five turnovers. Tanisha Wright, a guard for the Seattle Storm playing for Tarbes, had 14 points and eight assists.

The distribution of points for Union Hainaut was a bit more evenhanded. Sabrina Reghaissa led all players with 13 points, but Bernadette Ngoyisa had nine points and 11 rebounds. Sabrina Palie added 11 points and Chioma Nnamaka added nine points for Union Hainaut.

I'm sure there will be pictures of the game soon.

Euroleague 6/2008 - Prague 83, Union Hainaut 58

For Prague (2-4), it was a chance to crawl away from the bottom of Group C in Euroleague. For Union Hainaut (2-4) it was another crushing loss as Prague beat Union Hainaut at home 83-58.

The writeup is here. The boxscore is here.

According to the writeup. Prague got off to a fast start and led 24-10 after one quarter. At one point, Prague led by 20 in the first half, 41-21 when Union Hainaut went on a 13-0 run with just three minutes left in the first half to close the score to 41-34 at haltime.

After that, Swin Cash took over the game for Prague. Union Hainaut was outscored 42-24 in the second half, simply overwhelmed by the home team in front of 920 spectators in the Czech Republic. The win for Prague avenges an opening game Eurocup loss at Union Hainaut.

Prague outscored Union Hainaut 52 percent to 37 percent in field goal shooting. Up close - that is, in front of the 3-point arc - Prague was 30 for 47 in 2-point shots, shooting 63 percent. They doubled Union Hainaut over in rebounding, and were sent to the free throw line 20 times where they hit 85 percent of their shots. Union Hainaut was crushed.

Swin Cash had a monster game for Prague with 27 points, eight rebounds, and four steals. Cash plays for the Seattle Storm during the regular WNBA season. Lindsay Whalen of the Connecticut Sun of the WNBA helped in the drubbing with a 20 point, eight rebound game. Sandra Le Dréan, a French player playing in Prague, scored 11 points and 11 rebounds for Prague.

Only two players would score in double figures for Union Hainaut. Bernadette Ngoyisa would score 20 points and eight rebounds, and Kathy Wambe would have 10 points and four assists. Chioma Nnamaka would contribute eight points, but commit four personal fouls.

No gallery of pictures exists yet, but Euroleague is pretty good about that.

LFB France 10/2008 - Union Hainaut 76, Reims 64

With two teams - Bourges and Tarbes - remaining undefeated at 10-0, there were four teams that were stuck at 5-4. Union Hainaut (6-4) was one of those teams, along with Aix-en-Provence, Arras, and Calais. The three other teams lost on Sunday, leaving Union Hainaut in sole possession of third place as they defeat Reims (4-6) at home, 76-64.

The boxscore is here.

Union Hainaut seems to have taken over in the second half. They hung on to a one point lead, 33-32, at halftime, before extending the lead to seven points after three quarters and winning by twelve.

Union Hainaut would shoot 44 percent compared to the 40 percent shooting of Reims. In rebounding, Union Hainaut had a distinct edge - they led both in offensive and defensive rebounds. Reims would score 19 points at the free throw line compared to the eight of Union Hainaut, but Reims would turn the ball over 21 times in the game.

Kathe Wambe led all players for Union Hainaut with 19 points and eight assists. Chioma Nnamaka was second in scoring with 16 points. Bernadette Ngoyisa would only contribute three points.

As for Tiffany Stansbury? Plantar fascitis. She's going to be out for at least four weeks for Union Hainaut. Union Hainaut is looking to sign someone on a short-term basis.

For visiting Reims, Amélie Pochet led all scorers with 14 points. Valeria Berezhynska, formerly at Rice University, had 11 points and five rebounds, and Manon Sinico scored 11 points as well.

Euroleague 5/2008 - Ekaterinburg 85, Union Hainaut 65

Kathy Wambe and Cappie Pondexter fight over a ball.

I read an article in French media - can't remember where, sorry - which stated that Ekaterinburg (5-0) was a $6 million team. I couldn't fathom that, since most WNBA teams had $800 K salary caps. You would have to pay WNBA players around 60 times what they get in America! A $40 K rookie would be receiving around $300,000 a season!

Maybe I misunderstood how the "$" symbol was being used. No one can deny that Ekaterinburg is stocked with the big guns of the WNBA and Euroball. And yet somehow, Union Hainaut (2-3) managed to hold Ekaterinburg to within two points in the first 22 minutes before Ekaterinburg pulled away for the win, 85-65.

The game writeup is here. The boxscore is here, and a mini-gallery adjoins it.

It was definitely a close game for the first half. The first quarter ended with both teams tied, and visiting Ekaterinburg only had a four point lead, 39-35, at halftime while playing in front of 2,800 spectators in Valenciennes.

With 7:21 remaining in the third, Union Hainaut was still a bucket away, 42-40. Ekaterinburg then went on a 10-2 run and added 11 points in the fourth quarter. As the writeup states, "Ekaterinburg...had too many weapons."

Overally, Ekaterinburg outscored Union Hainaut 48 percent to 41 percent. They led the rebounding battle, and scored 11 offensive boards compared to Union Hainat's six. Turnovers were even. Both teams shot evenly at the free throw line, and Union Hainaut's six extra one-pointers couldn't make up the difference.

So how did Union Hainaut do? Only three players scored in double figures. Bernadette Ngoyisa scored 17 points and eight rebounds - but also had six turnovers. Sabrina Palie was the real player of the game for Union Hainaut, with 14 points and four steals.

Tiffany Stansbury didn't play at all - I wonder why. Chioma Nnamaka played 26 minutes but only scored four points, all on free throws, and had five rebounds.

As for Ekaterinburg? Hell, Ekaterinburg is a WNBA All-Star team! Let's list the names you're sure to know:

Deanna Nolan: 5 points, 3 rebounds, 3 assists
Penny Taylor: 6 points, 3 rebounds
Sandrine Gruda: 8 points, 5 rebounds
Cappie Pondexter: 5 points, 4 rebounds
Asjha Jones: 10 points and 8 rebounds - and only 27 minutes of play

Only one player had more than 30 minutes, and that was Gruda. The stars were Agnieszka Bibrzyckawith 23 points, Svetlana Abrosimova with 14 points, and Maria Stepanova with 10 points and eight rebounds of her own. Stepanova, the best known Russian player in Russia, walked away from her CSKA Moscow club to join up with the Ekaterinburg All-Stars.

Even though this was a loss for Union Hainaut, they should be proud that they held their own against Ekaterinburg for so long. Right now, Union Hainaut is in fifth place in Group C, but if they keep playing like that they might sneak into the next round.

LFB 9/2008 - Arras 62, Union Hainaut 61

Joy for joy! We finally have a boxscore. Unfortunately, it wasn't the kind of boxscore we wanted to see if we're fans of Union Hainaut (5-4) - which we certainly are, since Chioma Nnamaka's on the team. They went to Arras (5-4) with the hopes of clinching sole control of third place in the French League behind two undefeated 9-0 teams. Instead, Union Hainaut lost by one point on the road, 62-61, joining a six-way tie for third place.
In a 14-team league, eight teams are within one game of each other. Bizarre.

The box score is here.

After a close first quarter, Union Hainaut began to pull away in the second quarter, leading 32-26 at halftime. Arras began a third quarter comeback and with three minutes to go in the third quarter pulled back to a 40-39 lead. The score was 46-42 in favor of Arras at the end of three quarters.

In the fourth quarter, Union Hainaut caught up to 46-46 with eight minutes left.

The score was 55-55 with three minutes left.

The score was 58-58 with one minute left. Union Hainaut took a 60-58 lead. They missed two of three free throws on a foul on a three point shot, but Union Hainaut led 61-60 after Arras scored their next two points. They had possession of the ball with just six seconds left.

But Sabrina Reghaïssia committed an offensive foul against Mia Fisher. Agh. Fisher hit both of her free throws, Arras won 62-61 and the crowd of 1,300 went crazy.

Mia Fisher had analysed Barack Obama's victory for a French newspaper, and the Arras team decided to borrow an American political slogan for the rest of the season.

"Can we beat Union Hainaut?"
"Yes, we can!"

With the game so close, both team shot "close" - Arras shot 43 percent and Union Hainaut shot 42 percent. Union Hainaut won the battle of rebounding, 34 to 27. It must not have counted for much if you can't hit anything. Union Hainaut made a couple more turnovers. They missed a couple more free throws. Here and there, it all adds up.

Mia Fischer led all players for Arras with 15 points, including scoring the game-winning free throw. Fisher was a former player for Santa Barbara. Four players scored in double figures for Arras. Jenna O'Hea scored 12 points for Arras. O'Hea has also played for the Australian league, but is of Irish ancestry. The two WNBA players on the Arras roster - Leilani Mitchell of the New York Liberty and Bernice Mosby of the Washington Mystics - scored eight and 11 points, respectively.

Three players would score in double figures for Hainaut. Kathy Wambe scored 18 points and five assists for Union Hainaut, followed by Bernadette Ngoyisa with 14 points and eight rebounds. Chioma Nnamaka scored 9 points for the visitors.

I'm....Just Waiting on a Boxscore....

(You can sing that to the tune of the Rolling Stones's "Waiting on a Friend".)

Arras beat Union Hainaut yesterday 62-61. However, sometimes the Ligue Feminine is a bit slow on providing boxscores. I'll report when I have a boxscore.

Chioma Nnamaka picked up nine points. More later. If you can't wait, the Women's Basketball in France website has a game summary.

Euroleague 4/2008 - Ros Casares 99, Union Hainaut 51

Sabrina Reghaissia of Union Hainaut gets used to watching Erika de Souza.

As I wrote earlier, it's interesting when players who have been playing on the same WNBA team all year head to Europe and get to face each other in league play. Or even, Euroleague play.

There are some exceptions, however. Erika de Souza was fantastic when she was playing for the Atlanta Dream - but didn't play much due to injury. Whereas Chioma Nnamaka was the last player on the totem pole, getting garbage time in the most garbage-y of situations. You'd expect a de Souza-Nnamaka match to end decisively in favor of de Souza, and that's exactly what happened when Union Hainaut (2-2) visited Ros Casares (2-2) and limped home after a devastating 99-51 defeat.

The game report is here. The boxscore is here, and both have access to a gallery of pics.

The report sums the game up with a few choice statements: "Ros Casares blew the game wide open in the first quarter." They led by 19 points at the end of the first quarter, 23 at halftime, 29 at the end of the third quarters and just pulled it out in the fourth. According to Union Hainaut's coach Fabrice Coucier, "Our intention was to stop their fastbreaks but it was impossible because they have a lot of athletic players."

If the best comparison to Euroleague is an extended version of the NCAA women's basketball tournament - that the Euroleague teams are the best teams in Europe - well, you know that there are only about 16 really good women's college teams...and the rest should just be happy to be invited. Ros Casares has paid for a Euroleague team and expects Euroleague championship results. Isma Canto, the coach of Ros Casares, has a team at the level of Duke or North Carolina. Coucier, however, has the Kent State Golden Flashes of the Euroleague. He's already stated that the team is a young squad, and their biggest problem is that other teams can get inside their head easily.

We suppose that happened in this game. Ros Casares shot 69 percent. They shot 81 percent in their inside game. They won the battle of the rebounds. And turnovers. And got sent to the free throw line more often. There is no analysis of this game, because this game was simply a mugging, where, if you're sitting on the losing bench, you're praying that time will speed up so that you don't lose by fifty points.

For Union Hainait, only one player scored in double digits - Bernadette Ngoyissa led all scorers with 10 points in 17 minutes. Not a single player in Union Hainaut played for more than 23 minutes. Tiffany Stansbury only scored seven points and Chioma Nnamaka only scored five.

As for Ros Casares, four players scored in double figures. Delisha-Milton Jones put up 25 points, shooting 10 for 10 inside the arc. Amaya Valdemoro scored 21 points, and Erika de Souza would score 14 points and eight rebounds.

Each team in the six-team division in which Ros Casares and Union Hainaut belong will play each other home and away - ten games in all. The top four fininshers among the six go to the next round. It looks like Ekaterinburg (4-0) and Ros Casares will go on to bigger and better games in the Euroleague. Union Hainaut, on the other hand, better get used to reading the boxscores and concentrate on the Ligue Féminine de Basket.

LFB (France) 8/2008 - Bourges 70, Union Hainaut 54

Back in the days when Union Hainaut (5-3) was Olympic Valenciennes (USVO) - Union Hainaut was formed this year by the union of USVO and one other club - the yearly match against Bourges (8-0) could determine who would win the Ligue Féminine. Bourges would remain undefeated in its quest for a championship with a decisive 70-54 victory to the disappointment of the home Union Hainaut fams.

The boxscore of the game is here.

Looking at the quarter by quarter results, it appears that Bourges had this game under control almost from the tip-off. Bourges led 20-14 after one quarter and Union Hainaut could only close to within two points, with Bourges leading 35-31 at the half. A 20-9 third quarter by Bourges sealed the deal and Bourges apparently held Union Hainaut at arm's length for the rest of the game.

In shooting percentage, Bourges shot 46 percent from the field and Union Hainaut shot 38 percent. It was Bourges that would win the battle of the rebounding, 39-29, but it was the fact that Union Hainaut sent Bourges to the line twenty-seven times that was a major help for Bourges in remaining undefeated. Both teams shot 55 percent from the stripe...but Union Hainaut only got nine visits.

In a disastrous game, no player scored in double digits for Hainaut. Kathy Wambe lead with nine points. Sabrina Reghaissia led in rebounding with seven total rebounds and seven points. Tiffany Stansbury would score eight points and have five rebounds for Union Hainaut.

And what of Chioma Nnamaka? She disappeared, shooting 1 for 7 on the night. Believe it or not, Union Hainaut had even worse performances than Chioma's from a couple of players.

Bourges, on the other hand, had good performances from Nwal-Endéné Miyem, who scored 14 points and four rebounds. Catherine Melain scored six points and seven rebounds, and Céline Dumerc scored eight points and five rebounds for Bourges.

Pictures will come when they can be found. The basketLFB site has a few videos up, but not of anyone from the Dream.

Euroleague 3/2008 - Union Hainaut 85, Gdynia 82

Vedrana Fonseca of Union Hainaut stares down Katsiaryna Snytsina of Gdynia. What does Katsiaryna have written on her arm?

Who would have thought that Union Hainaut (2-1) would be in second place in Group C after three games? That position was slotted for Ros Casares or Ekaterinburg. Much less, who thought that Lotos PKO BP Gydnia (0-3) would be at the bottom of Group C? But that's the way it stands after a come-from-behind victory by Union Hainaut, 85-82 in Euroleague play.

The writeup is here. The actual boxscore is here, and a gallery can be found on either page.

The game started out with what seemed to be Gdynia taking a strong lead, leading 35-16 after one quarter. According to the writeup, Gdynia led by more than 20 at one time in the game, 45-23. Unfortunately for Gdynik, Union Hainaut went on a 12-0 run to close out the half and the home team was down by 13, 52-39.

I managed to follow the game at work through the live boxscore viewer. Union Hainaut shot 50 percent at the half, but Gdynia shot 72 percent. No wonder they led! They were also outrebounding Union Hainaut 15 to seven and earning three offensive rebounds in the first half.

Then Union Hainaut began to fight back. Sabrina Reghaissia scored the tying basket with 1:52 to go in the third to tie the game at 61-61.

In the fourth quarter, the teams went back and forth, with Union Hainaut taking a 78-75 lead with just 3:56 left. If you read the writeup and the play by play, you'll get two different impressions of the game. The write-up implies an exciting last part of the game, but the last four minutes were a collection of turnovers, steals, bad shooting and unforced errors. Alana Beard of Gdynia turned the ball over once and fouled Reghaissia again, a personal shooting foul that let Reghaissia shoot - and make - three free throws to turn a three point deficit into a six point gap with just 1:05 remaining. After that, all Union Hainaut had to do was to not turn over the ball...too many times, anyway.

Even with Union Hainaut's comeback, Gdynia shot 57 percent from the field compared to Union Hainaut's 48 percent. Union Hainaut's second half rebounding was at least even. Gdynia shot better from the charity stripe; but Union Hainaut only made two fewer free throws.

So what won the game for Union Hainaut? Turnovers. Gdynia coughed up the ball 18 times compared to Union Hainaut's six. That's the potential to make up 12 points or more right there. Union Hainaut was playing at home, and they had a fantastic second half. Combine that with Gdynia not able to get it together in the last four minutes, and Union Hainaut escaped with a win.

Sabrina Reghaissia led Union Hainaut with 21 points. Three other players for Union Hainaut scored in double digits including Chioma Nnamaka with 13 points. Tiffany Stansbury scored a grand total of six points in twenty minutes on the court before earning her fifth and final personal foul, fouling out.

For Gdynia, there were five players scoring double figures. Emilija Podrug led all p alyers with 19 points followed by Ivana Matovic with 16. Alana Beard had 14 points and fouled out literally during the last seconds of the game. Jennifer Fleischer scored a "two billion", playing two minutes and with no other marks for her in the boxscore.

Gdynia had hoped to add Tamika Catchings to their roster, but she suffered an Achilles injury in September. She will not be joining Gdynia until January 12th, but Gdynia might have to hope for a PLKK championship, because it doesn't look like Gdynia's going to make it out of the first round of Euroleague.

Union Hainaut-Calais Gallery

J'aime le Basket feminine!

Presented for your approval, an album of the recent Union Hainaut-Calais game. There must be about 200 pictures in there, as if the photographer simply dumped every single picture she took into the album.

I'm posting this for all you Chioma Nnamaka fans, because who isn't a fan of Chioma Nnamaka?

P. S.: that mysterious animal mascot from an earlier pic seems to have been identified. It's obviously le black panther.