PARIS (AP) — Striker Odsonne Édouard scored with a header in each half as Lens beat Nice 2-0 at home on Sunday to move back ahead of Paris Saint-Germain at the top of Ligue 1.
Édouard gave surprise front-runner Lens a 15th-minute lead with a brilliant glancing header from Matthieu Udol's cross and nodded in another left-wing cross from Udol in the 57th.
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Fans light flares before the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Monaco in Marseille, France, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
Marseille's Nayef Aguerd, right, challenges with Monaco's Takumi Minamino during the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Monaco in Marseille, France, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
Marseille's Mason Greenwood celebrates scoring during the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Monaco in Marseille, France, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
Marseille's Mason Greenwood, center, runs past to Monaco's Caio Henrique, right, during the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Monaco in Marseille, France, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
It was a sixth straight French league win and ninth in 10 games for Lens.
The northern club is one point ahead of defending champion PSG after 16 rounds and five points ahead of third-placed Marseille and fourth-placed Lille, which are separated by goal difference after both won on Sunday.
Next weekend sees French Cup matches, before Ligue 1 resumes in early January.
“We'll try to stay there as long as possible. One thing is for certain: we will be top at Christmas, which is great for all the families and the people from the region," Lens coach Pierre Sage said. “Udol has assisted on three goals in two games. The first goal was amazing, the cross was good but the header was awesome."
Marseille stayed third by beating Monaco 1-0 at home after Lille had won 4-3 at Auxerre earlier Sunday.
Ligue 1 top scorer Mason Greenwood notched his 11th goal for Marseille this season with a curler into the top right corner from near the penalty spot, after being well set up by midfielder Pierre-Emile Höjbjerg in the 82nd.
Lamine Camara thought he had opened the scoring for Monaco shortly after halftime with a fine shot from just outside the penalty area. But the goal was ruled out for an earlier offside from Monaco forward Folarin Balogun.
Greenwood went close with a strike midway through the second half and made no mistake with his next chance.
Although Marseille remains an inconsistent side, fans have been entertained at Stade Velodrome under attack-minded coach Roberto De Zerbi. Statistician Opta said Marseille's 56 league goals scored in 2025 is its third highest home tally ever in a year.
The start of the match was delayed by a few minutes to clear the air after Marseille fans lit many flares in the stands.
it was a ninth straight defeat in all competitions for a Nice side in total disarray. The losing run is the longest in Nice's history.
Despite considerable backing from chemicals giant Ineos, which took over six years ago, Nice is unable to find the right formula and some fans have confronted the players.
Nice is 13th in Ligue 1 and also last in the Europa League group stage after losing all six games so far.
A chaotic match saw four players sent off — two from each side.
Lille led early on through Iceland midfielder Hakon Haraldsson but had central defender Nathan Ngoy sent off in the 39th, then conceded an equalizer when striker Lassine Sinayoko struck in the 57th.
Three minutes later, Auxerre defender Clément Apka was shown a second yellow card and both sides had 10 men.
Auxerre went ahead in the 66th when Lille center back Chancel Mbemba scored into his own net while trying to clear the ball.
A frantic spell followed.
Midfielder Nabil Bentaleb netted with a powerful strike to make it 2-2 in the 77th and Lille went in front moments later when 18-year-old substitute Soriba Diaoune grabbed his first career goal after replacing 39-year-old veteran Olivier Giroud — France's all-time leading scorer with 57 goals.
Auxerre equalized with a penalty from Sinayoko in the 83rd, only for Lille captain Benjamin André to hit what proved to be the winner three minutes after that.
The drama was not quite over.
Lille defender Romain Perraud and Auxerre midfielder Oussama El-Azzouzi were sent off shortly after for fighting on the touchline.
Czech midfielder Pavel Sulc's seventh goal of the season helped Lyon beat Le Havre 1-0 and move up to fifth place.
After Lyon goalkeeper Dominik Greif saved Issa Soumaré's penalty in the 38th minute, Sulc scored early in the second half with a diving header from Afonso Moreira's cross.
Strasbourg snapped a run of three straight league losses but could only draw 0-0 at home to Lorient.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Fans light flares before the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Monaco in Marseille, France, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
Marseille's Nayef Aguerd, right, challenges with Monaco's Takumi Minamino during the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Monaco in Marseille, France, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
Marseille's Mason Greenwood celebrates scoring during the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Monaco in Marseille, France, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
Marseille's Mason Greenwood, center, runs past to Monaco's Caio Henrique, right, during the French League One soccer match between Marseille and Monaco in Marseille, France, Sunday, Dec. 14, 2025. (AP Photo/Philippe Magoni)
CLEVELAND, Miss. (AP) — A sparse crowd drifted into Walter Sillers Coliseum for Delta State’s first women’s basketball game in 1973.
It was a 4 p.m. tipoff against Holmes Community College — announced only in the local paper in rural Cleveland, Mississippi. There were no tickets, no concessions or buzz. Just a handful of curious women's basketball fans with no clue what this team led by a former high school coach named Margaret Wade could be.
“We had no expectations because, see, the coach came from the high school, and she had never coached college ball," said Dot Bright, a 1962 Delta State graduate who still lives just a few blocks from the school. "So we thought, 'Oh, OK. It’s all in the family. We thought it was just little hometown people.”
What Bright and a few others saw that day was the beginning of something bigger. Within a couple of years, Delta State became one of women's basketball's early powerhouses. The Lady Statesmen were the first No. 1 team when the women's college basketball poll debuted 50 years ago and won three straight national championships in the Association for Intercollegiate Athletics for Women (AIAW) from 1975-1977.
The Lady Statesmen will be recognized during “The AP Top 25 Fan Poll Experience” being held Thursday-Saturday at Arizona State’s First Amendment Forum in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The poll has served as a road map for the rise of the sport, though a lot has changed since the NCAA took over in 1982.
The women's basketball spotlight has since shifted elsewhere as money reshaped the sports landscape and large programs with big budgets — like the powerhouses in this weekend’s Final Four including UConn and South Carolina — began to dominate.
In Cleveland, Delta States' rich legacy still resonates.
“People still support it," Delta State athletic director Mike Kinnison said. "While we’ve had some ups and downs with it, it’s still a good program. That's still very important to me that we keep that tradition and keep that history and heritage out front.”
Reminders of that history are scattered across Delta State's campus. The basketball court is named after coach Lloyd Clark, who led the program to three national titles in 1989, 1990 and 1992 after its move to the NCAA's Division II. The jerseys of star players including women's basketball pioneer Lusia Harris are hanging in the gym. A “Hall of Fame” room of photos and trophies is set up in the athletic building chronicling those dominant days.
Current Delta State women's basketball coach Tracy Stewart-Lange makes sure prospective players are aware of the program's legacy when they arrive on campus.
Stewart-Lange, who just led the Lady Statesmen to an 18-11 record in her fourth season, stops recruits by the stadium's concourse to see a replica of the Wade Trophy given each year to the best player in women's basketball, which is encased near the front door, as well as a display of Delta State's national championship trophies under Wade and Clark.
Even Delta State football coaches bring up Wade, Clark and Harris when selling recruits on the school.
“You try to give them little snippets of, ‘Guys, this is where you are now,’” Stewart-Lange said. “'Don’t take it for granted. Step into those shoes and shine and push it forward. Get it back to the top.'”
Wade, who had coached at nearby Cleveland High School years before taking over at Delta State ahead of the 1973 season, had a roster that included the future Hall of Famer, Harris, who became one of the greatest women's players ever.
But publicity was scarce that first year. Former sports information director Langston Rogers recalled that many local and regional papers mostly ran box scores — until the wins and crowds became impossible to ignore.
The Lady Statesmen went undefeated in 1974, upsetting Philadelphia powerhouse Immaculata to win the AIAW national title and quickly building national credibility with wins over teams like Ole Miss and Auburn. They eventually drew thousands to venues like Madison Square Garden and UCLA's Pauley Pavilion, a rarity in women's hoops during that time.
Demand at home far exceeded the 3,000-seat Walter Sillers Coliseum, so portable bleachers were brought in and students sat along stage railings to squeeze inside.
"Everybody in Cleveland knew us and knew our names," said Debbie Brock, starting point guard from 1974-78. “You would drive up to the Sonic — and we didn’t have many restaurants or anything then — but I’d go to the Sonic, and the man would say, ‘Great game tonight.’”
Kinnison, athletic director since 2019, is now trying to recapture those times.
After the NCAA replaced the AIAW as the governing body for women's college sports, Delta State and other small colleges faced a major challenge to stay competitive on a national scale.
Recruiting advantages and national media attention have since dwindled, and for a while it was hard to bring in the same caliber of coaches.
“People don’t jump up and down when they find out they’re moving to the Mississippi Delta,” Bright said. “It’s hard to recruit here. I think the coach we have now, Coach Lange, she is doing an awesome job ... We have a very good record this year, some of the best since Lloyd Clark.”
Bright, 82, still never misses a game — though they're much quieter than they were 50 years ago.
Stewart-Lange runs into people around the Cleveland area who talk of their memories from those days. That gives her hope that local support can still remain even as the national spotlight has faded.
“I do feel like the undercurrent is there within the community,” Stewart-Lange said. “It’s been done before. And it can be done again.”
AP Top 25 Fan Poll Experience: https://apnews.com/https:/apnews.com/projects/arizona-state-fan-poll-experience/
AP March Madness bracket: https://apnews.com/hub/ncaa-womens-bracket and coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/march-madness
FILE - Delta State center Lusia Harris, right, towers over Penn State's Mag Strittmatter, left, as she pulls down a rebound at Penn State in University Park, Pa., March 24, 1976. (AP Photo, File)
FILE - Delta State University's Lusia Harris (45) gets off a shot against Queens College during a women's college basketball game at Madison Square Garden in New York, Feb. 23, 1976. (AP Photo/Ron Frehm, File)
Delta State women's basketball coach Tracy Stewart-Lange poses for a photo, Feb. 17, 2026, in Cleveland, Miss. (AP Photo/Alanis Thames)
The Delta State women's basketball locker room is seen, Feb. 17, 2026, in Cleveland, Miss. (AP Photo/Alanis Thames)
The Delta State basketball court is seen, Feb. 17, 2026, in Cleveland, Miss. (AP Photo/Alanis Thames)
