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London Lions were unable to build on a good start as they went down 81-60 at Villeneuve d' Ascq in the FIBA Women's Euro Cup, on Wednesday.
Mark Clark's side led 19-14 at the first break and were level with 80 first half minutes remaining before an intentional foul call on Katsiaryna Snytsina sparked a 9-0 run from the hosts to close out the period, and the French side took control in the second half.
Snytsina led the London side with 16 points and six rebounds while Mikiah Herbert-Harrigan had nine boards to go with her eight rebounds and Azania Stewart finished with nine points, four rebounds and three assists.
After making five of their first seven three-point attempts Lions struggled from outside the arc, scoring only two of their next 18 attempts. In contrast they saw the hosts' Hind Ben Abdelkader hit six of her 11 shots from downtown on the way to a team-high 21 points and six boards.
Herbert-Harrigan got London off the mark with a trey from Kennedy Leonard's assist, and with Holly Winterburn, Herbert-Harrigan and Leonard all scoring from downtown they rushed into a 12-5 lead with six minutes gone.
A fifth trey, this time from Snytina, made it an eight-point game and Stewart's basket plus two-from-three Shanice Beckford-Norton free-throws saw the visitors take a five point lead into the first break.
Snytina also went two-from-three at the charity stripe to open the second period and Paige Robinson's jump shot made it a nine-point game as Lions reached the midway point in the quarter with a 26-23 lead.
Kamiah Smalls gave the hosts their first lead since the opening score of the game when she hit a trey with 3:31 on the clock but Ty Battle and Taylor Murray each provided an assist for the other to score at tie the game with 2:47 on the clock.
But Snytina's foul on Smalls led to a five-point play with Ben Abdelkader hitting a three after the unguarded free-throws and Caroline Heriaud's triple extended the lead to 39-30 at half-time
Snytsina converted a turnaround jump shot to open the second half and Winterburn's floater kept Lions within eight after three minutes but a 6-0 run saw Villeneuve d' Ascq take control of the game.
Lions' penultimate three-point came from Snytsina but the hosts scored nine of the final 14 points in the period to lead 65-47.
Beckford-Norton's free-throw followed by a triple saw the hosts' cut to 14 and Herbert-Harrigan trimmed a furher two points off the deficit as the French side were held scoreless for the first four fourth period minutes.
But that was as close as Clark's side came as the hosts scored seven unanswered points over a three minute spell to make it a 19-point game and effectively wrap up the win.