CAIRO (Egypt) - South Sudan picked up their second win in the history of the FIBA Women's AfroBasket Zone 5 qualifiers with a convincing 86-69 victory over Kenya, who had dominated the last three meetings between the two teams.
Hosts Egypt, on the other hand, picked up their second win of the campaign with a 65-62 victory over Uganda to remain perfect.
South Sudan stun Kenya for historic second win
In their third appearance in the qualifiers, South Sudan got off to a flying start with an 86-69 win over neighbours Kenya, their second ever win. The team's first win came against Rwanda in the 2023 qualifiers with a 54-40 victory.
Against George Mayienga's Kenya, Delicia Washington led the charge for Alberto Antuna's charges with a game-high 26 points to go with seven assists and six rebounds. Skipper and former WNBA player Adut Bulgak and Nyamuoch Teny added 14 points apiece.
Victoria Reynolds and Natalie Mwangale led the scoring for Kenya with 19 and 15 points respectively.
South Sudan's bench power proved to be the difference maker as they contributed 23 points to Kenya's 3. The team had little trouble at the free-throw line, converting 28 out of 33 while Kenya missed 12 of their 23 attempts in the loss.
"I am just so proud of the girls. This is their second win in history and their biggest so far. They put in the work against a tough opponent. The 34 turnovers is something we need to change because that is too many. But we adapted to the game and played good defence and I'm happy with the win," coach Antuna told FIBA.basketball, adding that the defensive changes in the second quarter helped their cause.
For her part, Adut says the journey they took to get this win makes it even more special, adding that the team is hungry to win and we will continue to fight for the ticket.
Mayienga, for his part, says the team will regroup ahead of their third match against Burundi on Wednesday 5 February as they chase their first win.
"We started the game better than yesterday against Uganda but in the third quarter we got into foul trouble and sent our opponents to the line. The turnovers and lack of rebounding cost us the game," said coach Mayienga.
Egypt hold off Uganda onslaught to stay perfect
Hosts Egypt surrendered a 14-point lead (28-14) early in the second quarter and struggled to shake off a resilient Ugandan side, who held on for a 65-62 win.
Paige Robinson and captain Jane Asinde mounted a comeback, outscoring Egypt 18-10 to pull within one point at the break (33-32). Egypt pulled away again to lead 42-32 six minutes into the second half, but Uganda refused to go away.
Hope Akello scored four points in the opening minutes of the final period to bring the East Africans back into contention, while Asinde equalised at 50 and gave them their first lead at the free-throw line at 51-50. Hala Elshaarawy and captain Farida Abdelnabi both hit crucial layups in the closing minutes to seal the win.
"We had a good first quarter, playing good defence, but that changed in the second quarter. We had some mistakes that we need to correct, but the most important thing is to be competitive from the first whistle to the last. Our numbers were not good but the most worrying thing was our turnovers which we hope to work on before the next game," said coach Amr Elmaraghy.
For his part, Uganda's Nicholas Natuhereza said: "Egypt had a little more than us at the end and they made the winning plays. We need to work on how to finish games.
FIBA