Uganda will have to wait for another two years to get shot at the Women’s FIBA AfroBasket.
The Gazelles suffered a 67-62 defeat to Kenya at Lugogo Indoor Stadium on Sunday in the playoff semifinal which ended their qualification journey.
Nick Natuhereza’s charges fell back 8-2 early in the opening quarter but collected themselves to level the game at 10-all, with Flavia Oketcho, Jamila Nansikombi, and Claire Lamunu getting the points.
However, Felmas Adhiambo Koranga who found little resistance in Martha Soigi and Lamunu put Kenya in the lead with a pull-up jumper and they never looked back despite a small 17-15 lead at the end of the quarter.
Brenda Ekone drove in to tie the game at 17 at the start of the second quarter but Adhiambo, Hilda Indasi, and Brenda Atieno quickly put out Gazelles fire. Kenya, helped by Uganda’s poor execution, built a 10-point lead by halftime.
On return from the locker rooms, vet Betty Samba Mjomba pulled up to extend Kenya’s lead to 12 points. Gazelles thrice came to within 8 points but had a double-digit lead (55-45) heading into the fourth quarter.
Kenya started the fourth quarter with an 8-1 run to take the lead to 17 and all was nothing but dusted that not even Gazelles late run could derail Ronnie Owino’s charges.
Adhiambo led Kenya with 19 points and 14 rebound, Betty Kananu added 12 points while Indasi and Atieno contributed 9 points apiece.
Lamunu scored game-high 21 points and picked in 17 rebounds in a losing effort. The other Gazelles to score in double figures were Soigi (12 points) and Nansikombi (10 points).
Uganda plays Rwanda who lost to Egypt in the other semifinal later today in the classification game.
