FIBA Women’s EuroCup Play-Off Round 1
London Lions 77 – 71 Villeneuve d’Asq LM (21-19, 16-23, 11-13, 29-16)
(Lions – Herbert-Harrigan 21, Murray/Snytsina 13, Winterburn 11; Villeneuve – Smalls 18, Burke 12, Salaun/Ben Abdelkader/Diallo 8)

London Lions came from behind to clinch a hard-fought 76-71 win against French side Villeneuve d’Asq LM in the first leg of their FIBA EuroCup Women second round tie.

The hard-fought win in front of their loyal fans at the CopperBox Arena sees the WBBL champions taking a slender lead into next week’s away leg in France.

Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan led the Lions with 21 points, six rebounds and six assists, followed by Taylor Murray and Katsiaryna Snytsina, who both hit 13 points.

Kamiah Smalls’ excellent performance with 18 points – off 87% FG shooting – was not enough for Villeneuve.

The match started with the Lions having a clear plan to push the ball as much as possible and catch Villeneuve’s defence unprepared.

This worked well on a couple of occasions and allowed the home team to rush to a seven-point lead (14-7) – their largest of the game in the first half – after Holly Winterburn laid the ball in with just over five minutes played.

However, a 7-0 run by the French side gave them the lead (16-17), with their top scorer Kamiah Smalls making two consecutive triples.

A three by Snytsina – London’s first of the game – handed the lead back to the hosts before closing the quarter ahead by two points (21-19).

The second period – similarly to the first – was also very evenly balanced, with the lead changing hands on several occasions in the first seven minutes.

In the last couple of minutes, however, the visitors managed to shut down the Lions’ offence, only allowing them to score two points.

At the same time, Villeneuve, led by Smalls – the only player in double digits in the first half – went on a 9-2 run to take a five-point lead (37-42) heading into the locker rooms.

The second half saw the visitors rush to a nine-point lead (37-46) after two unanswered buckets, giving them their largest lead of the game and forcing Coach Clark into a timeout.

Whatever he told his players worked, as Snytsina drained a three on the first play following the re-start, giving her team some much-needed points to close the gap.

That was the start of a 6-0 run by the Lions, which saw them turn the contest into a one-point affair (46-47), after Paulina Hersler’s jump-shot, halfway through the third quarter.

The British side could not capitalise on their momentum, missing too many shots from behind the 6.75m line – just 2/8 for the period and 4-15 in the match so far.

This allowed their opponents to go on their own 6-0 run after Smalls laid the ball in and went into the final 10 minutes with a seven-point lead (48-55).

Although London was behind going into the fourth quarter, they had saved their best performance till the last.

The Lions scored a whopping 29 points in the final 10 minutes, outscoring their opponents by 13 (29-16).

The tone was set early in the quarter by top scorer Herbert-Harrigan who scored a lay-up on the first play to close the gap to five (50-55).

The Londoners played much more aggressive defence, which resulted in plenty of steals – eight in the entire game, of which half of those were in the final quarter – enabling them to score easy baskets in transition.

Herbert-Harrigan did that, stealing the pass from Myriam Djekoundade before running coast-to-coast and dishing it to Ty Battle for the easy two with less than eight minutes to go.

The roles were then swapped just a couple of minutes later when Battle stole the ball this time and turned provider for Herbert-Harrigan, who laid it in after grabbing the offensive rebound from her own miss.

With their tails up, the Lions kept attacking on the fast break and managed to tie the game for the first time (61-61) since the second quarter, when Shanice Beckford-Norton grabbed the board, sprinted down the court, hesitated, blew past her defender, and laid the ball in – capping off a 7-0 run.

London managed to get their noses in front for the first time in the second half when Murray hit both her free throws with three minutes left until the final buzzer.

Kariata Diaby gave Villeneuve the lead again after grabbing the offensive rebound and converting an and-one.

Just when it looked like the French side might have regained the momentum after retaking the lead, Snytsina threw up a Hail Mary three right on the buzzer, which miraculously banked in and put the home side up by one once again (70-69).

The final two minutes saw the two teams exchange baskets, with Villeneuve having the opportunity to tie the game with 10 seconds remaining, but Caroline Heriaud missed her three-point attempt.

The Lions were not content with taking a slim three-point lead to the away leg in France next week.

They played right to the end, with Winterburn hitting nothing but net on a buzzer-beating triple right at the death and giving her team a well-deserved six-point lead ahead of the reverse fixture.

Make sure you don’t miss the Lions in action next Wednesday (January 11) in their EuroCup Women second-leg fixture against Villeneuve d’Asq LM at 7pm.

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