KPA, Equity advance to Zone V qualifiers semis
Equity Hawks' Samba Mjomba (right) in action against Gladiators during their Zone V Africa Women Basketball League qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda on October 31, 2023.
What you need to know:
- KPA dominated Vijana Queens 23-7,26-11,21-8 and 11-10 in their four quarters. Aminata Samassekou,Selina Okumu and Morgan Taylor were top scorers for KPA sinking in 16,13 and 11 points respectively.
- Tupenge Anyingisye and Tumaini Ndosi scored 13 and nine points respectively for Vijana Queens.
Kenyan teams on Thursday stormed into the semi-finals of the ongoing Zone V Africa Women Basketball League qualifiers in Kigali, Rwanda.
Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) and Equity Hawks proved too strong for their opponents in the quarter-final matches to sail through to the semi-finals.
KPA and Equity Hawks had topped their respective groups by winning all their preliminary round matches to book their slots in the knock out stages.
Equity Hawks were the first to storm into the semi-finals when they trounced Nile Legends of South Sudan 72-43 in a match they dominated in the first two quarters.
The bankers were clinical in their execution of their passes and were aggressive on their offenses going into the halftime break leading 37-12.
The Ben Oluoch coached Equity Hawks led 16-6 and 21-6 in the first and second quarters respectively.
In the third quarter, Nile Legends seemed to have gotten their rhythm as they pushed offensively but were unable penetrate the bankers defence going down 16-20.
However, in the fourth quarter, Nile Legends pushed in the offensive and capitalized on some defensive lapses by the bankers forcing Equity Hawks technical bench to call a time out in the last three and half minutes of the match.
After the time out, Equity seemed to come out stronger reducing Nile Legends aggressive offence to ensure the quarter was tied at 15-15.
Vallary Kemunto, Maryann Wanjiku and Cynthia Mawero scored 15,12 and eight points respectively to emerge top scorers for Equity Hawks.
Rhoda Nagitta was the top scorer for the Nile Legends scoring a massive 19 points followed Ajah Akuak with seven points.
In the second quarter final match, KPA were too strong for Tanzanian champions thrashing them 81-36 in a one sided match played at the LDK gymnasium.
The Anthony Ojukwu coached KPA dominated all the departments aggressively especially in the offensive, while at the same time mounting a solid defence making it hard for the Tanzanian champions to penetrate.
KPA dominated Vijana Queens 23-7,26-11,21-8 and 11-10 in their four quarters. Aminata Samassekou,Selina Okumu and Morgan Taylor were top scorers for KPA sinking in 16,13 and 11 points respectively.
Tupenge Anyingisye and Tumaini Ndosi scored 13 and nine points respectively for Vijana Queens.
Other quarter finals matches slated for Thursday night will see JKL Lady Dolphins of Uganda take on Rwanda’s APR while Gladiators of Burundi square it out with Rwanda Energy Group (REG).
