• Halfway through the third quarter, the Egyptians raced away, building a 48-38 margin before making it a 13-point game with the scores standing at 53-40.
• “The focus and hunger, which the ladies brought in the game, is commendable. Fatigue and mental strength was our biggest undoing,” said coach Anthony Ojukwu.
Kenya Ports Authority bowed out of the FIBA Women’s Champions Cup after going down 76-70 to Alexandria Sporting Club of Egypt.
In this match played at the Pavilhao da Universidade Eduardo Mondlane, Maputo, Mozambique, it was the Kenyan champions who took a 16-15 lead at the end of the first quarter.
A closely-fought second quarter saw the winners stage a fight back to tie the scores 22-22 before moving up. Two foul shots by Natalie Akinyi then drew them close at 26-28. But they didn’t apply enough pressure as Sporting took off again and managed to take a 37-34 difference at the breather.
Halfway through the third quarter, the Egyptians raced away, building a 48-38 margin before making it a 13-point game with the scores standing at 53-40. KPA cut the difference and only trailed 58-50 as the stanza ended.
KPA came out strongly in the last quarter. They started to dominate play as they pegged the Egyptians down cutting that margin to tie the scores 58-58. Soon the porters went up 61-58 with 5:00 to play.
Then a basket away with the scores standing at 66-64, KPA self destructed after both teams returned from a time out. Three costly turn overs did them in as ASC capitalised on Thier mistakes to pile miseries on them with the scores ballooning to 75-64 with 1:10 left to play in their favour of the Egyptians.
Nigerian playmaker Ifunaya Okoro once again proved her mettle, leading KPA scoring tally with 16 points while Cierra Dillard managed to score 22 for ASC.
“The focus and hunger, which the ladies brought in the game, is commendable. Fatigue and mental strength was our biggest undoing,” said coach Anthony Ojukwu.
The two teams met in the Zone Five finals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in October with Sporting winning the duel 78-67 to be crowned regional champions. KPA were placed third in Group ‘A’ after a 69-59 win over CNSS of the DR Congo while the Egyptians were second after losing 79-70 to home team Ferroviaro Maputo in Group ‘B’.
This was the second meeting between then two teams after meeting in the Zone Five finals in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in October. ASC won the tie 78-67. The Egyptian champions had strong contributions from Cierra Dillard, Ager Ahmed and Reem Moussa.
In the other quarters, Inter Clube (Angola) hammered another Zone Five team, Rwanda Patriotic Army (APR), 94-53. The semi finals are slated for Friday with the finals being played Saturday at the same venue.