DAKAR (Senegal) - After 10 days of jaw-dropping performances at the 2024 Women's Basketball League Africa (WBLA), two teams stand in waiting for the crown of the best in African club basketball.
Chasing their maiden title, 2019 bronze medalists Al Ahly Sporting Club and two-time champions Ferroviario de Maputo are set to clash.
Both coaches carry formidable squads to the match, Ingvild Mucauro and Anabela Cossa leading the race offensively for Mozambique's Ferroviario with Carla Covane taking charge on the boards while Senegalese duo of Ndioma Kané and Madjiguene Sene will be the go-to for Egyptians Al Ahly Sporting Club.
"We are proud to be in the Final. We want this for our people and we are happy to be doing this for them at such a time. They deserve this and we are ready to deliver," former African MVP Mucauro, medical doctor by trade, told FIBA.basketball.
Her sentiments were echoed by Covane who says the Final is a different ball game but what matters is how they finish.
"We will be back stronger than we were in the semis and leave everything on the floor. It is a Final between two capable teams and you never know which way it will go. We just need to do our best. It is not about how we started but how we finish.
"In the semis we did not have a good start, we were nervous but made necessary adjustments to come back from a 24-point deficit to win. It was not easy being on the floor for 40 minutes but the resolve to help my team kept me going," Covane who bossed the boards pulling 18 rebounds to complete her double-double with 16 points offered.
Al Ahly SC center, Sene, meanwhile, says qualifying for the Final, on home soil against her former team ASC Ville de Dakar (ASCVD), was a dream with assistant coach Aliaa Gamel attesting to the player's resolve to turn the match around in their favour.
"I am proud of my team for what we did in the Semis but that is behind us and we have to be ready for the Final. The culture of the club is to focus on the next achievement and having come here with the title in mind, we are focused on that and will play our best to win," Sene said.
FIBA