Results | Tuesday, February 14
- South Sudan 68-83 Egypt
- Uganda 53-61 Kenya
Fixtures | Wednesday, February 15
- Rwanda vs. South Sudan – 5:00 pm
- Egypt vs. Uganda – 8:00 pm
Uganda’s National Women’s Basketball Team (Gazelles) suffered an opening-day defeat as the Zone V AfroBasket Qualifiers got underway on Tuesday.
The Gazelles fell to eternal rivals Kenya Lionesses, 61-53, in front of a capacity crowd at Lugogo Indoor Stadium.
It was apparent before the game that the Gazelles would be cleaned on the glass because of their lack of size. Janon Otto, who is a wing, played as a stretch four for the majority of the game and sometimes slid to five. Kenya outrebounded Uganda by 13 boards, all coming off the offensive glass, resulting in 21 second-chance points.
Despite getting on the scoreboard first through Hope Akello’s 3-point play, Uganda trailed 16-7 after the opening ten minutes, and the Lionesses maintained their nine-point advantage (34-25) at the halftime break.
The Gazelles returned from the locker room more spirited, going on a 15-5 run capped by Rita Imanishimwe’s three free throws to give the Gazelles a 40-39 lead with 2:53 to play, and the Arena erupted. The Lionesses, however, led 43-42 going into the last quarter.
In the fourth quarter, the Lionesses that had been suffocated by the Gazelles’ zone defence in the third quarter found room to breathe as Melissa Otieno was dared to shoot and connected on back-to-back shots from distance with Christine Akiny also hitting another dagger to give Kenya an 11-point (55-44) lead with under five minutes to play.
The Ugandans were out of legs and out of synch on both ends of the floor in the final period, eventually falling by 8 points.
Otto finished with a team-high 11 points for Uganda, Akello added 10 points and a team-high 9 rebounds, and Brenda Ekone contributed 10.
Akinyi led the Lionesses with 14 points and 12 rebounds, Mercy Wanyama scored a game-high 15 points, while Madina Okot pulled down a game-high 20 rebounds.
