DAKAR (Senegal) - On their first time of asking, Friend's Basketball Association (FBA) finished fifth at the 2024 Women's Basketball League Africa (WBLA) holding their own against last year's fourth-place finishers Rwanda Energy Group (REG) in a 55-47 over-time score.
Meanwhile, seventh place went to DR Congo's CNSS who managed a 71-37 victory over Senegal's Jeanne D'Arc, a side that received a last-minute wild card to the competition, replacing Nigeria's Customs who were unable to feature.
REG unable to stop high-flying FBA
In the fifth-place match, REG were forced to dig deep to recover from a 12-point deficit, tying the match at 47 to force OT.
Lémou Benga's charges, however, just used the extra five minutes to exact dominance, going 8-0 for victory. Sarah Berthé led the charge offensively for Benga's side with 14 points while skipper Grace Tolo stood tall defensively grabbing 13 rebounds, threw more than Aminata Guindo as the side out-rebounded REG 57-44 (25-10 on offense). The Ivorians, FBA dominated on all fronts in the match that witnessed 14 lead changes and seven times, going 40-14 ahead on the paint, 19-4 on second chance points, 15-2 on fast breaks and 21-6 on the bench. "We have had a good championship and have competed in every game regardless of the opponent and their experience. We are incredibly proud of our performance here and are looking forward to better in future," Berthé says.
CNSS prove too much Jeanne D'Arc
On their part, Koko Ade's CNSS recovered from a slow start in the opening quarter to run the scores in the second and final quarters (22-5, 16-1) to pick the win against the home side.
Marlène Ngobeleza and Bintou Drame scored 19 and 14 respectively in the win.
"Last year it was a relatively new and young team and we came to learn. Finishing ninth was a motivation to go work on our game and do better this yea," Ngobeleza, who finished as the team's second-best scorer, averaging 7 and assists provider with 2.3 said.
She continued: "Improving to seven goes to show that if we work on our craft awesome can reach the Last Four in the next tournament and then work on getting to the podium."
FIBA