Obilo slams Sparks' complacency after Panthers scare

Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) women's league side Zetech Sparks struggled to beat their varsity counterparts Panthers in a match that ended 60-53 in favour of the Thika road-based side. 

Coach Maurice Obilo called out his charges for underating the Africa Nazarene University (ANU) Panthers and almost costing themselves a crucial win but in a quick rejoinder acknowledged their efforts to win. 

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In a surprisingly closely contested match, given the difference in the two sides' performances in past matches, Sparks went ahead 20-13 in the first quarter of the match, clearly struggling to beat the tightly knit Panthers defense.

Panthers, despite missing most of their layups, continued to torment Sparks on defense and managed to restrict the high-scoring side to 16 points while scoring another 13 to head to the break with a ten-point deficit. 

"It was a tough match. My girls underrated ANU right from the way they trained throughout the week to how they approached the game. They had won the match even before stepping on the floor and this worked against. I am, however, grateful for the victory. 

ANU is a good team and we could not say we were superior. Any campus Derby is always tough and with the mentality my players came with it was impossible to change their mindset mid-match and go for a more convincing win. We had already messed up so we were just pushing for a win," offered Obilo. 

Mike Oluoch's pep-talk at half time must have ignited a new fire and self belief in the Nicole Adhiambo captained Panthers as they came off the locker room guns blazing to score 15 while restricting Obilo's charges to nine, a score line that saw the difference come down to four heading to the final period. 

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Experience, however, kicked in and Sparks were able to hold on for a 15-12 lead in the final quarter to win the match by seven points. 

"I want to believe that this will serve as a wake-up call to the players as we prepare for next weekend's action where we play University of Nairobi (UoN) Dynamites and Eagle Wings to complete our first leg matches. 

I expect my players to learn from this and play better against the two sides. We are working on our second leg system and we still have some lapses. We will keep on pushing so that by the time we are getting to the second leg, the players have gotten in sync. 

I always feel the need to change how we play in each leg and in the playoffs as coaches are scouting and studying opponents and if we kept to the same system for the entire championship then we become predictable and beatable," Obilo added. 

With two matches left for Sparks to conclude the first leg, the varsity side has only lost one match, away to holders Kenya Ports Authority (KPA).