NAIROBI, Kenya, Nov 11 – Despite a commanding 81-57 victory over Zanzibar’s Fox Divas in their opening Women’s Basketball League Africa (WBLA) Zone Five qualifiers at the Nyayo National Stadium on Sunday night, national champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) are demanding more from themselves.
Senegalese centre Aminata Ty, signed by the dockers to help their pursuit of WBLA qualification, says they should have done much better, and are keen to improve in their subsequent matches.
“To be honest this was our first game and we are trying to get our connection together. We have a lot of work to be done. Offensively, we got some good shots but defensively we have a lot to do. There is always room for improvement and we will go back, watch the game and see what we can do and try be better,” the former Egyptian Super League player said.
She added that KPA will have to bring their ‘A’ game to ensure they earn one of the two available qualification tickets, especially with respect to the tough competition expected.
“REG and APR (Rwanda) are really good teams and they have assembled some good players out there and we have to play as a team and do the little things to ensure we can compete against the strong teams,” she noted.
Ly is one of three international players drafted in by KPA to aid their squad strength. The dockers have also brought on board Kenyan international Mercy Wanyama who played in Lithuania last season while Nigerian Ifunanya Okoro has also returned.
The six-foot-three centre was one of five KPA players to hit double digit scores in their opening game. She dropped 10 points same as Betty Kananu, also a new signing from Equity as well as regular Vilma Owino.
Alima Doumbia registered 11 points while the fleet-footed Okoro had a game high 18 points.
The dockers dominated the game from start, outscoring the Zanzibari divas in all but the last quarter, when they let their feet off the gas pedals with victory already all but assured.
Meanwhile in the early tip off, Rwanda Energy Group (REG), one of the tournament favourites, also picked up their campaign with an emphatic win, beating Tanzania’s Don Bosco Ladies Lionesses 87-38.
Reg have snapped up Chantal Kiyobe and Grace Irebu from KPA to strengthen their squad. Kiyobe starred with 12 points while Irebu had an underwhelming performance with just a single basket.
American’s Kayana Taylor and Kristina King showed their money’s worth with superb perfomances, returning 15 and 11 points respectively. Kristina spiced up her performance with nine rebounds and four assists.
Meanwhile, Hope Butera also put up a superb show with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.
The second match of the day, Burundi’s Gladiators were handed a walkover against Uganda’s Magic Stormers, whose playing kick was yet to arrive at the venue by the time of tip off.
Meanwhile, day two of the competition on Monday will see Kenya’s second representatives, Zetech Sparks, take to the court against Burundi’s Les Hippos.
The University girls, losing finalists in last season’s Kenyan League finals, will be without their influential guard Michelle Soukoudjou, who left at the end of the season. However, they have brought back Mary Lisa Omondi to carry their plays for the tournament.
Zetech, coached by Maurice Obillo, are confident of starting off with a win, as they make their regional competitive debut. They failed to play at last year’s qualifiers due to financial issues.
Favorites APR face Gladiators in the second match of the day before Zanzibar’s Foxes look to make amends when they take on Stormers, who hope their kit will be in Kenyan soil by the time the game tips off at 7pm.
