Alexandria Sporting silence KPA to headline Group A
Five minutes is all it took for coach Mohamed Abdelrahman's Alexandria Sporting Club (ASC) to break Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the final Group A match at the ongoing AWBL as the hosts prevailed 102-77.
ALEXANDRIA (Egypt) - Five minutes is all it took for coach Mohamed Abdelrahman's Alexandria Sporting Club (ASC) to break Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the final Group A match at the ongoing Africa Women's Basketball League (AWBL) as the hosts picked a commanding 102-77 win.
The match was set to determine the winner of the group as the two sides had gone unbeaten in the previous three games.
"Since the draw, we knew this would be the toughest match of the group stage as KPA have good players and are well-coached so we have been preparing for this. We had a good start to the match and our offense really worked well and that gave us an advantage early on," the coach offered after the match.
ASC took a 12-4 lead early on but KPA managed to catch up at 14-12 off a Rita Aluoch jump shot before all hell broke loose for Antony Ojukwu's charges as the Egyptians went on a 24-point run that included 5 damaging treys.
Antoinette Bannister saved KPA's blushes from the free-throw line down the stretch in the quarter as Norham Ahmed completed the foray for ASC from behind the arc to give the hosts a 39-14 lead after the opening 10 minutes.
Nadine Yasser stole the ball from Dyana Pierre's bad pass for a jump shot that took ASC's lead to 30 points at 44-14 in the opening two minutes of the second quarter as the dockers dug themselves deeper in trouble in the Group Phase decider match.
The difference remained at 49-19 and further at 51-21 in the first part of the quarter, KPA having managed to contain ASC's three-point shooting. The Kenyan champions scored 12 in the last five minutes to end the quarter at 20-19 and head to the break with a 26-point deficit.
A coach's worst nightmare is losing a dependable player during such a critical match and the Kenyan tactician found himself having to play the second half without Madina Okot who picked up an ankle injury in the opening minute of the half.
It was mission impossible for KPA to recover from the first quarter dent but they kept a respectable scoreline in the last two quarters, going 21-16 in favour of the hosts and 28-22 for KPA but the damage had already been done.
"It has been a good run in the group stage and it was important for us to finish strong and head to the knock-out stage confident. We can now turn our focus to the quarters as we look to play well and advance. The target remains winning the championship but we will take it one game at a time," coach Abdelrahman added.
His opposite number, Ojukwu admitted that his charges had a poor start which was their main undoing.
"It was a bad day in the office for us. We tried to adjust after the first quarter but we could not recover from the first quarter dent. We have a chance to redeem ourselves in the quarters and we plan to come back stronger," the Kenyan veteran coach who is hoping to guide his side to a maiden podium place said.
FIBA