Kenya Lionesses head coach George Mayienga plans to make some adjustments in their second FIBA Africa Zone Five match against Rwanda at the Lugogo Indoor Arena. Kampala, Uganda on Thursday.
The tactician said this was necessitated by the performance of the team in their opening match against host Uganda, a game they did well to win 61-53.
“The girls did well to win the game but we saw some critical lapses that allowed the Ugandans to come back after we had build a good lead,” said Mayienga.
He will, however, maintain his starting five of Victoria Reynolds, Melissa Akinyi, Natalie Akinyi, Mercy Wanyama and Medina Okot against the Rwandese, who had an off day on the opening day of the five-team tournament.
“We were undone by our fouling situation. This is one of the things we worked in our training today (Wednesday),” Mayienga said.
He praised the performance of Christine Akinyi, who came off the bench to add punch into the match.
The forward provided 14 points while pulling down 12 rebounds in only 18 minutes of duty.
“Without the threes from Melissa and Christine, we were going to look bad. Mercy did well but she had problems with the fouls and I need her services down there,” said Mayienga.
Wanyama was the leading Lionesses top-scorer, sinking 15 points while Okot managed to crush the boards as she grabbed 20 rebounds. But Mayienga want her to do a lot more on offensive board too.
"We need to get Okot into position because anytime she was in the paint, it was either a basket or a foul but her posting needs polishing. They were pushing her out of the paint all the time,” he said.
On the fast break, he noted, the girls didn't do well and also on the rebounds, especially on the offensive end of the floor. But he promised to sort that in training.
The losers were led by Jannon Otto, who managed 11 points as Hope Akelo and Brenda Etone picked 10 each.
In the opening fixture, Egypt dismissed South Sudan 83-62 after leading 54-33 at the break. Raneem Elgedawy registered 23 points.
The South Sudanese, who led 25-20 in the last quarter, had Adut Bulgak managing 16, Nyamuoch Pidor had 16 and Acheil Marko posted 13.
Fixtures
Thursday
Kenya Vs Rwanda
Uganda Vs South Africa
