Uganda 54-46 Australia
Led by the vast experience of She Cranes’ center player Ruth Meeme, Uganda’s University team has proved to be a handful at the 2016 World University Netball Championships going on at St. Thomas University in Miami.
After running over outsiders University of Worcester on the opening day, Uganda continued to prove their worth following a 54-46 win over Australia in their second match.
Unlike, their first game the Ugandans had to work for the win and made perfect adjustments as the game grew. Uganda trailed 13-12 after the opening quarter and 26-25 at the half.
With the Australians having a height advantage over Uganda and more streetwise than Worcester, a lot of work had to be done to unsettle their defense.
On top of the natural shot passing, clinical shooting by the Rashid Mubiru coached team, there was need to play with a lot of width. Irene Eyaru and Joan Ameo had to move in and out of the circle at will to get Australia work defensively.
After the halftime break, Uganda returned a different entity and went into the final quarter with a 3 goal advantage (41-38).
Uganda adopted the bounce pass to counter Australia’s height advantage. Ameo and Eyaru’s movement in and out of the circle coupled with the lob pass across the wings did magic as Uganda was up by 7 goals midway through the quarter and eventually outscored their opponents 13-8 in the period for the win.
Uganda returns to the court just after midnight (Ugandan time) for the last group game against favourites Jamaica. The game will also decide who tops the group.
Quarter finals will be played on Friday, semi finals the next day and the finals on Sunday.
