Equity Bank Hawks coach Ben Oluoch says his charges will strive for a second Africa Women’s Basketball League win when they tackle Overdose Up Station of Cameroon in their last Group B match on Friday in Alexandria, Egypt.
The tactician noted that the bankers who have won one of their three matches played, have a good chance of going through to the quarterfinals if they win the crucial encounter.
“We need to win against Overdose to avoid the maths,” said Oluoch, whose side had a rest day Thursday. “We have a good chance of doing so if we maintain focus and take care of the ball.”
The two teams' only victory in the tournament came against the hapless ASPAC of Benin. Hawks flew all over them with an 87-69 victory following a last-half burst. The Benin champions also went down 77-52 to Overdose.
On Wednesday night, Equity Bank suffered a harrowing 84-50 loss to Rwanda Energy Group (REG), a team that also denied them a top-two finish in the regional qualifiers in Kigali.
REG, led by WNBA stars Tiffany Mitchell and Nia Clouden, raced to an 18-9 edge in the opening stanza and were 30-13 up at the break.
They continued to torment the Kenyans in the third, taking a 23-13 cushion and ending it with a 13-11 edge in the decider. Mitchell and Destiney Promised tossed in 21 points each, Clouden shot 15 and Betty Kalanga had 13.
Hawks’ centre Grace Irebu was the only banker to post double digits with 20 points.
Meanwhile, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) beat Universite de Doula of Cameroon 66-41 in their third match.
It was the third win for the Kenyans, who face host team Alexandria Sporting Club (ASC) in a fixture that will see the winners top Group A going into Saturday’s quarterfinals.
The dock women took a 19-11 first-quarter edge and maintained it with a 19-11 margin in the second. The Cameroonians battled to close in but still trailed 22-20 in the third before taking the last quarter 18-17.
Victoria Reynolds continued her hot shooting streak with a game-high 24 points and Hilda Indasi provided 15. KPA had the biggest lead of 25 at 66-41.
Cynthia Williams tallied 17 points and Jose Diane bagged 15 for the losers, whose only win came in a 68-65 edge over CNSS of DR Congo.
