EuroCup Women (Group J) 

Villeneuve d’Ascq 80-59 London Lions (14-19, 39-30, 65-47)
(Villeneuve d’Ascq: Abdelkader, 21; Smalls, 18; Heriaud, 13 – Lions: Snytsina, 16; Stewart, 9; Herbert-Harrigan, 8)

London Lions began their EuroCup Women campaign with an 80-59 loss to Villeneuve d’ Ascq at Le Palacium in northern France.

It proved a tough opener for the WBBL quadruple winners, especially given the good start they had to the game, including hitting five three-pointers on 71% in the first quarter.

From there Lions would only hit two more in the remaining three quarters, shooting 35% from the field as they fell to the 2015 EuroCup Women winners.

Katsiaryna Snytsina led the Lions with 16 points and six rebounds, supported by Azania Stewart’s nine points on 4/5 from the field.

Hind Ben Abdelkader shot an impressive 54% from three-point land (6/11) en route to a game-high 21 points for Villeneuve d’Ascq.

Despite a full house and loud atmosphere, the Lions showed no signs of nerves, to begin with. In fact, it was the exact opposite as they confidently took and connected their shots from distance.

London’s first five scores were from the three-point land, which was part of a 9-2 start and subsequent 19-14 lead after the first quarter, as coach Clark’s brigade shot an eye-watering 71% from long range.

The visitors kept their momentum going in the early stages of the second, and a score inside from Paige Robinson extended Lions’ lead to 23-14, forcing coach Rachid Meziane into a timeout with under two minutes played.

Following that timeout, the style of the game became scrappy, and the pace quickened. You could see Villeneuve d’Ascq mounting a comeback.

And with Lions at times guilty of playing their opponents’ game, it allowed Villeneuve to take the lead, thanks to a three from Kamiah Smalls with 3:28 left in the half.

It was the start of an 11-4 finish to the half for the hosts, with a corner triple from skilled point guard Caroline Heriaud giving her side a nine-point cushion going to the locker rooms.

Villeneuve’s confidence only grew as the third quarter started as a three from Smalls gave them their first double-digit lead of the night.

London quickly responded to narrow the deficit again, only for a rainbow triple from NBA range by Heriaud to wrestle back that double-digit advantage.

That shot unleashed new life into the hosts as the intensity of the raucous crowd inside the Palacium only grew.

London’s offence dried up toward the end of the third as Villeneuve enjoyed a 65-47 lead heading into the fourth.

However, despite the deficit, London enjoyed a decent spell in the early stages of the fourth. A three from Shanice Beckford-Norton, followed by a jumper from Kiki Herbert-Harrigan, shrunk the deficit to 65-53 with 7:07 left.

But the hosts had enough left in the tank as London ran out of petrol in the final five minutes.