Ojukwu humble in victory as he downplays 'favourite' tag

As Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) look to be getting better with each match in the Kenya Basketball women's league, there is a storm brewing in Equity Hawks' paradise. 

The two sides clashed on Sunday 17 July at Nyayo Indoor Arena with the Antony Ojukwu-led dockers subjecting the bankers to their second defeat of the season and of the weekend in a 73-42 outcome. 

Sylvia Kamau's Hawks have had a weekend to forget as they lost their first weekend match to Zetech Sparks 64-47 on Saturday and desperately needed to redeem themselves in the match against the dockers. 

A strong start saw the bankers lead 19-17 in the first quarter, atoning for their sins against Zetech. In the match against the varsity side, Hawks lost it in the first period, going down 21-6 and dug themselves a hole that, in the end, proved impossible to claw back from. 

Ojukwu's charges, however, stepped on the gas in the second period, having realised that the bankers could easily cause an upset if they kept the tempo going. 

The second quarter ended 21-10 in favour of KPA to take a nine-point advantage to the break and give Kamau something to talk to her charges about.  

KPA came out of the locker room guns blazing, restricting the bankers to an embarrassing one basket scored by Maryann Nyagaki while adding 15 to their tally to carry a 22-point advantage to the final period which ended 20-11 in their favour. 

"We just implemented what we have been doing in practice. We dictated the match were attacking and communicating on defense while on offense we emphasised on reading and reacting. I am glad things went our way," offered Ojukwu. 

Skipper Natalie Akinyi scored 22 with new signing Jemima Night adding 18 to the tally as Selina Okumu bagged double digits at 13 in the victory for the Mombasa-based side. 

The tactician says his charges knew that Hawks would come hard at them following their Saturday loss. However, they had planned for that and reacted perfectly in the second quarter and the second half of the match, denying the bankers. 

Asked whether victory against the bankers was a statement as far as the dockers' title defence goes, Ojukwu remained modest, terming the season a marathon. 

"No, we still have a long way. There is the regular season then the playoffs and I believe Hawks, being the good team they are, they will give us a run for our money.

We still have work to do especially on our bench power. There is a big difference between the starting five and the substitutions and I have to step in and work on that effectively," he added. 

Meanwhile, in their second match of the season, University of Nairobi Dynamites grabbed a first victory against struggling last season's semi finalists Storms in a surprising 31-16 outcome. 

Dynamites Faith Atieno and Liz Okumu top scored for the varsity side at 11 and seven points respectively in a match that saw neither side hit double digits on all four quarter scores.