ZANZIBAR (Tanzania) - The Last Eight places at the ongoing Women's Basketball League-Africa (WBL-Africa) Zone Five Qualifiers are now decided and there's no more room for slip ups.
Egyptian champions Al Ahly Sporting Club played JKL Lady Dolphins in the last Group Phase match, the former winning their third match 100-61 to remain undefeated as the latter picked their first loss of the competition.
In the opening quarter Al Ahly SC went on a 7-of-10 run on threes that killed the momentum for the Ugandan side as they trailed 24-14 in the first five minutes.
Nadine Mohamed led the onslaught with nine points, all from beyond the arc, Pauline Hersler adding two more as Al Ahly led 36-21 in the opening quarter.
JKL managed to play a better second quarter to cut the deficit to 10 in the opening half of the second quarter with Keren Becky Longom doing the heavy lifting on both ends of the court. Brenda Ekone and Rita Imanishimwe dropped back-to-back treys to help their case.
However, Reem Moussa and Raneem Elgedawy continued to be a thorn for JKL, contributing 8 assists and 17 points respectively, as the quarter ended 20-19, to take their side to 56-40 at the conclusion of the first half.
An 18-15 performance for the Egyptians in the third quarter had them leading by 19 heading to the last period where they ran the scores for 26-06 to reach their third century win.
Nadine led the charge for Al Ahly SC with 25 points, four more than Raneem who added five rebounds. Ndioma Kane led the rebounding with 11, adding seven assists for 19 in efficiency.
Longom, meanwhile, continued her impressive show for JKL, bagging her second double-double on 18 points and 10 rebounds. Ekone and Imanishimwe managing double digits on points as well with 12 and 11 respectively.
Focus now shifts to the quarters on Thursday 31 October.
FIBA