Equity step up preparations for Zone Five tourney

Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) women’s league defending champions Equity Hawks are in residential training as preparations for FIBA Africa Zone 5 Women’s club champion 2021. 

Originally scheduled to take place between 16 to 21 November, the competition has been moved to 18 to 23 with coach David Maina confident his charges will be ready for action ahead of their travel on Tuesday 16 November 2021. 

“We started residential training this week and the squad is responding well to training. We have had enough time to work on individual players and have also identified a few areas to beef up so as to be competitive at the regional level. 

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Our offense has not been good in the league and we are looking to improve on scoring. Our centre player Belinda Okoth has not been around due to work commitments but she is set to join us in training on Friday 12 November,” offered Maina. 

The bankers are set to beef up their squad with two players ahead of the championship. One of the two will be KBF women’s league Most Valuable Player (MVP) Annrose Mandela who left the side after landing a job overseas. Ndella, as she is popularly known, helped Hawks bag their third league title in the 2019 season and was subsequently named the league MVP.

“She (Mandela) was part of the team this season and played a few of the first leg matches before leaving. Having her back for this championship will be a big boost. She understands our systems and plays and has been on the court with all players in the team so she will fit in perfectly. Her job allows her to stay fit so we are not worried. Morale in camp is high and the competition for positions will help us get an even better squad for the assignment,” added the tactician. 

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To further address their conversion rate woes that have seen the team win league matches, on several occasions, narrowly coach Maina has switched veteran point guard Samba Mjomba to handle business in the shooting guard position, helping Betty Kananu run the scores. “She can handle the ball well but we need her to help in offense without having to do both,” Maina said.