Champions Equity Bank off to winning start in play-offs
KPA's Seline Okumu goes for a lay-up during the Kenya Basketball Federation play-off match against Strathmore University at Nyayo National Stadium on January 22, 2022.
What you need to know:
- On Saturday, Thunder defeated Blades 68-39 in Game One of the men's Premier League quarter-final at Nyayo after leading 34-14 at the break.
- In Kisumu, champions Ulinzi Warriors were beaten 73-61 by hosts Lakeside. Kenya Ports Authority, who finished second in the regular season with 42 points, defeated hosts Eldonets 86-66 at Uasin Gishu Primary Schoool in Eldoret.
Champions Equity Bank women's basketball team made a good start in the Premier League play-offs when they humiliated Africa Nazarene University (ANU) 73-36 in Game One at Nyayo National Stadium Gymnasium Sunday.
Equity Bank, who qualified for the best-of-three series quarter-finals after they finished second in the regular season with 35 points, had experienced shooting guard Samba Mjomba threatening the varsity students with superb outside shooting.
Mjomba nailed two three-pointers with teammates Demise Menya and Cynthia Mawero also making early effective contributions. The bankers raced to a 14-2 lead at the end of first quarter and went ahead to take commanding 30-18 advantage at the break.
ANU coach Mike Oluoch,who had no bench with only six players, had a hard time to cope with the well prepared Equity Bank, who continued to dictate terms in the last two quarters.
Equity Bank had little opposition to lead 20-11 and 23-7 in the third and fourth quarters respectively.
Evergreen Edna Kola led the scoring chart for the holders with 17 points, Samba Mjomba and Melisa Akinyi each added 14 points.
The varsity students, who finished seventh in the regular season with 24 points, replied with 13 points from Stella Nekesa with Mercy Mumo managing 11.Game Two will be played at the same venue next weekend.
In the women's Division One league play-offs opener, Footprints edged out Kakamega-based Western Delight 49-47 in Game One of the best-of-three series.
Footprints finished the regular season in sixth position with 18 points, while Western Delight grabbed the third spot in the eight-team competition with 23 points to book a ticket to the play-offs quarter-finals.
Game Two and Three will be played at Kakamega Police Canteen next weekend.
Kenya College of Accountancy-University also made a flying start with a 38-20 win over Multi-Media University in Game one of the men's Division One league play-offs quarter final.
On Saturday, Thunder defeated Blades 68-39 in Game One of the men's Premier League quarter-final at Nyayo after leading 34-14 at the break.
In Kisumu, champions Ulinzi Warriors were beaten 73-61 by hosts Lakeside. Kenya Ports Authority, who finished second in the regular season with 42 points, defeated hosts Eldonets 86-66 at Uasin Gishu Primary Schoool in Eldoret.
