Final: Mali vs Angola - Who will make history?

BEIRA (FIBA U16 Women African Championship 2017) – It is Final Day at the FIBA U16 Women's African Championship in Mozambique and indeed a big matchup awaits Africa.

This is the very first time that the two sides are meeting in the Final. In fact Angola are making their first appearance at this stage of this biennial competition, unchartered waters for Lisa Pires' outfit. 

Mali are seeking a record fifth title while Angola will be looking for their very first crown and that has highlighted the rivalry between the two nations.

The last time that the two sides met, Mali overcame Angola 60-43, a fair result considering how the West Africans have dominated the other teams at the tournament. 

However, the fabric of a Final is always that of an enigma, a contest to showcase the best that there is and indeed Saturday's encounter will be at that temperament. 

Mali come into this one with the best overall statistics and it is known that stats do not lie. Mali are unbeaten in five games at this year's edition with the incredible Aissetou Coulibaly leading the points scorers list with 109 points over five games and she has been the top scorer in each game. 

While this is enough basis for Mali to be overconfident, they are not and head coach Sidiya Oumarou has admitted that, "Angola is a good team and you can see how they defeated Egypt so we are not taking them for granted but we want to win. We want to defend our title."

Angola and Mali will represent Africa at the FIBA U17 Women's Basketball World Cup 2018 in Minsk, Belarus. 

Earlier in the day, Egypt and hosts Mozambique will face off in the Third-Place game.

FIBA