After losing the first two games, JKL Lady Dolphins finally found a way to beat KCCA Leopards on Sunday evening.
Mostly quiet point guard, Angella Namirimu came to life with 17 points, 5 rebounds and 6 assists as the Lady Dolphins got off an explosive start to defeat Leopards 71-64.
“I think they (JKL) played really well and competed. You can’t take that away from them,” KCCA’s coach Timothy Odeke said.
JKL got off a quick start and led by 10 points (17-7) after the opening five minutes of the game before closing the period up by 19 points (27-8) and never looked back.
Early regular season MVP contender, Jamilah Nansikombi was KCCA’s tormentor in chief with game high 27 points to go with 8 rebounds.
“They started the game well, scoring on transition and we were sloppy. They reduced us to doing damage control especially in the second half,” he added.
JKL did their homework after the two losses and did a good job on doubling up on KCCA’s Martha Soigi to kill her combination with star point guard Flavia Oketcho on the pick and roll.
Leopards did not take advantage of JKL’s double-team something Odeke believes largely contributed to the loss.
“I think they did well on trapping Martha (Soigi) and Flirsh (Flavia Oketcho) in the double team. I think we did not put their double team to our advantage by playing as a team”
Oketcho who was isolated in most rolls scored team high 22 points with 18 coming from 3-point range. Last year’s regular season MVP Joy Chemtai contributed 15 points.
Odeke who also doubles as the head coach for the National team (Gazelles) says the loss did not take anything away from his side and is confident of winning the title they lost to UCU Lady Canons last year.
“It (the loss) doesn’t take anything away from us,” he says. “We have beaten them twice and they studied us, now we have also learnt from the loss”
