Full Time: Malawi 59-53 Uganda
The Malawi Queens used a dominant opening half to beat the Uganda She Cranes 59-53 in Pool E qualification duel played on Tuesday at Netball Central.
Uganda’s technical department headed by Rashid Mubiru called for two changes in the starting line up from the side that featured in the opening three games.
Harriet Apako started as the center player ahead of Halima Nakacwa and Alice Nanteza started as goal keeper ahead of Florence Nanyonga.
Nakacwa and Nanyonga later came on to replace the starting pair and Ruth Meme who started as the Wing Attack was shifted to center.
A dominant Malawi team led through the match opening two quarters as the She Cranes started slow. A 19-10 first quarter and 16-12 second quarter put the She Cranes in a 13 goals deficit at halftime.
Uganda played catch up in the second half but all was in vain as the gap was too big.
At the end of the third quarter, Malawi had extended the lead to 50-36, a 14 goal’s difference reflected in their shooting prowess of 91% with Goal Shooter, Mwayi Kumwenda inflicting most of the damage.
The final quarter saw Uganda’s best performance in the match, scoring 17 goals to finish with 52 as Malawi only managed 9 goals to consolidate on the earlier performance.
Despite the loss, Ugandans were the better shooters on the day, scoring 52 goals on the 57 attempts at the ring, a reflection of 93%.
On the other hand, Malawi scored 59 goals on the 66 attempts at goal – showing a 89% margin.
Sharp shooter, Mwayi Kumwenda of Malawi top scored in the game with 48 goals after 53 attempts.
Uganda’s skipper, Peace Proscovia returned 38 goals from 39 attempts.
Rachael Nanyonga was the better goal attacker, scoring 15 goals off 18 attempts at the ring.
Her counterpart from Malawi, Sindi Simtowe scored 11 goals from 13 attempts.
The She Cranes face Jamaica in the next qualification game on Thursday.
