Pharaohs break Kenya Lionesses hearts in AfroBasket qualifiers
Egypt's Raneen Elgedawy (15) blocks a shot from Kenya's Natalie Akinyi during their 2023 Fifa Women's AfroBasket qualifying match at the MTN Arena Lugogo on February 18, 2023.
What you need to know:
- The Lionesses, who won the last edition of Zone 5 in Rwanda in 2021, are out on goal aggregate at the expense of Uganda who saw off Rwanda 78-70 in the last group phase match.
Kenya were on Saturday knocked out of the race for a place in 2023 AfroBasket after a blowout 82-57 loss to Egypt in their last group phase match in the ongoing Fiba AfroBasket Women Zone 5 qualifiers at the MTN Arena Lugogo in Kampala.
The Lionesses, who won the last edition of Zone 5 in Rwanda in 2021, are out on goal aggregate at the expense of Uganda who saw off Rwanda 78-70 in the last group phase match.
The trio of Egypt, Kenya and Uganda finished the group phase on seven points apiece after they won three matches and lost once, separated only by points’ difference.
Egypt, who have a points’ difference of 85, topped the group followed by Uganda (23) and Kenya (22). South Sudan and Rwanda finished with five and four points respectively.
“Unfortunately, we are out on points aggregate. They have used points for and points against, without Rwanda games. And they have used the aggregate points to get positioning,” elaborated Team Kenya Head of Delegation Angela Luchivya.
Egypt and Uganda will now meet in the final on Sunday for a place in the AfroBasket slated for July in Rwanda.
Kenya will play South Sudan in the bronze medal match.
Reigning champions Kenya needed to defeat Egypt to be assured of a place in the final but were completely outdone in every department.
They fell behind 4-0 after Raneem Elgedawy’s hook shot and layup and, although they did level at 4-4 after Madina Okot’s layup and two-point jump shot but just never got going.
Kenya managed to come within two points early in the second quarter at 21-19, they were then let down defensively as they trailed by 21 points at the break, with Egypt on top 50-29.
Elgedawy was the destroyer, grabbing a game-high 23 points, with Nadine Soliman, Meral Abdelgawad, Soraia Deghady and Asrar Bakr getting double-digit scores.
Kenya’s best scorers were Spain-based Mercy Wanyama (13 points), Dubai-based Rose Ouma (11) and youngster Madina Okot (10).
Kenya went into their fixture against Egypt boasting of three straight wins against Uganda (61-53), Rwanda (69-58) and South Sudan (80-51).
Egyptians had won against South Sudan (83-68) and Rwanda (102-56) and lost at the hands of Uganda (86-85).
Mayienga’s side also defeated Egypt 99-83 in Zone 5 finals in July 2021 in Rwanda after having lost 107-106 to the Pharaohs in the round robin phase.
Both sides qualified for AfroBasket held in Cameroon where Kenya finished ninth and Egypt sixth.
