Peruch-Niang on a mission with Guinea

YAOUNDE (AfroBasket Women 2015) - Guinea may not be known as a basketball nation, but on Friday they stood up against Egypt and almost caused the biggest upset at AfroBasket Women 2015 so far.

They had arrived in Cameroon capital city of Yaounde four hours before the game, but that was no excuse to displaying an impressive competitive spirit.

And, Mariama Djiba Toure, Khady Mbaye and Nadia Peruch-Niang propelled a shorthanded Guinea team.

Peruch-Niang, who came from retirement after a professional basketball career in Spain and France, led the way for Ousmane Syllas’s team, finishing with team-highs 20 points, 8 rebounds.

Although it is early to access the team’s potential as well as its chances in Group B, Peruch-Niang knows she is on a mission, on and off the court for Guinea.

“We never practiced or played together before the game,” Peruch-Niang told FIBA.com.

“We want to keep the same fight spirit and try to make progress as the game goes. Considering all that we have been trough we can only expect to do better in the next days."

The former Illinois State University standout went on saying: “My performance in terms of points really does not matter.

All I want to do is lead them on the right direction. I can help scoring points, giving passes or leading from the bench, that’s what I want to do - Peruch-Niang

Back in June, Guinea conceded heavy defeats against Mali during Zone 2 qualifiers, however, they qualified for this year's AfroBasket Women as Mali were already qualified but needed to qualify for the 2015 All-Africa Games.

The team, which counts with only nine players, seems slightly different for good, and Peruch-Niang praises her team competitiveness.

At some point in Friday’s game against Egypt, Guinea tied the contest at 23 after trailing by as many as 13 points early in the game, and remained alive throughout, but the North Africans ended up winning 81-73.

“It was the will of the girls to stay in the game,” the 37-year-old said.

“We trailed by 15 points and we never gave up, it almost worked out. We have to be proud and keep on working.

“I had a chance to play professionally in Europe, and I just wanted to give back what I could and this competition was a good opportunity to do that."

Guinea have been drawn in Group B along with African champions Angola, Senegal, Nigeria, Egypt and Algeria. 

“The competition will be tough against very good teams. Egypt has shown that it is also a very good team.”

Asked about her future with Guinea basketball, Peruch-Niang reminded that her mission will continue once the AfroBasket Women 2015 is done.

Along with husband Ousmane Niang, a Guinea international, they want to build a school where kids would be able to play basketball at a very high level from a very young age.

“That is not something that has currently been done in Guinea,” the 1.85m power forward said.

“Our goal is to build the school and we are going to try to focus on that after this competition.”

FIBA