KPA women basketball team crowned regional champions

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) Ladies Basketball team clinched the Africa Zone V Championship on Saturday after seeing off hosts Rwanda Energy Group (REG) 87-53 in an epic finale played at LDK Gymnasium.

The crucial win means the Dockers under grieving Anthony Ojukwu have earned the ticket to the forthcoming Africa Women Basket League tournament to be held in Egypt next month where they will be joined by finalists REG. KPA was dominant straight from the word go and ran the Court in all the four quarters of the game as they overwhelmed the Rwandese at their backyard.

Medina Okot, Natalie Akinyi and Morgan Taylor were the toss of the match with shrewd and fluid play in the court that proved too much for REG.The hosts were poor in clearing their backline especially rebounds thus were duly punished by the Coastal based Dockers. KPA led 44-30 at the break with near similar score lines of (22-16 & 22-14) in the first two quarters as they seized control of proceedings.

In the next two quarters, KPA posted 43 points.Victoria Reynolds stood out with 23 points to his name in the game of her life as she was also influential in launching attacks and offering key assists. Medina Okot weighed in with 22 points with the big centre always a threat especially in the rim. Morgan Taylor on 19 points and Natalie Akinyi on 13 points also came to the party with important scores. As for REG,they just could not conjure enough to push the opponents despite earlier efforts for the Rwandese National Basketball League Runners-Up.

KPA won all their group matches and knockout games to maintain a clean record. “It was not an easy outing for us but teamwork saw us through.I am very happy with our performance and thus qualification to the main event in Egypt. Personally it was hard for me but at least we sailed over the line,” stated Ojukwu who earlier on lost his mother.

Dockers beat Ugandan outfit JKL Lady Dolphins 74-53 in the semi-finals 24 hours earlier to get the golden ticket to enter the finals.Another Kenyan side Equity Hawks secured Bronze in the Championship in the Third Place Playoffs with a 78-74 victory over Lady Dolphins in a thriller at the same venue.

The Bankers just missed the chance to p[articipate in the Elite (Africa Women Basketball League) following a 61-76 loss to Rwanda Energy Group Friday. Despite starting on a high note,the Kenyan side somehow slackened and were caught out in the breaks. REG conceded the first quarter 16-20 to Equity Hawks but came alive in the latter stages of the game to punish the wasteful Bankers.REG took charge with follow-up scores of 19-15/21-10/20-16 to get their feet fully into the finals.The Rwandese side were tactical and deployed a strong offensive side but also had smart players covering the base and the ring on their side.