FIBA Women’s Afrobasket Qualifiers: Lionesses annihilate South Sudan to maintain perfect start

On a day that the Kenya Lionesses needed to correct their past mistakes and be effective, they did in style and all through the four quarters as they came out big victors; tearing apart South Sudan 80-51 in a lively Friday evening FIBA Zone V game at the MTN Arena in Lugogo, Kampala.

The result means that Kenya – unbeaten with a 3-0 record – are a leg in into Sunday’s finals having done what the rest of the teams haven’t.

Kenya has won all of its games and faces Egypt in the final pool game on Saturday afternoon, before potential finalists Uganda take on Rwanda in the evening matchup.

Kenya holds the head-to-head advantage over Uganda and the final slot will be down to Uganda and Egypt. Uganda on Wednesday stunned Egypt 86-85.

In need of consistent shooting, Kenya’s most efficient player so far in the competition, Victoria Reynolds, was on a roll once again as she led the team with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists while shooting over 43% from the field. She also had a plus minus of +23 and had the all-important 4 steals to her name.

Madina Okot rarely puts up single digits in rebounds. The tall center had another impressive game as she racked up 18 rebounds (12 boards in the defensive end) and 11 points to mark her second double double.

It was the ‘now routine’ start for the Lionesses as they took a big lead early- coming out to a 7-0 advantage thanks to two buckets from Okot and a couple of free throws from Mercy Wanyama.

Just when South Sudan had pulled close to within a point with under four minutes left in the first quarter, Melissa Otieno hit one of her favorite shots from the wing before forcing a turnover on the other end that resulted into a fast-break layup by Victoria Reynolds – forcing South Sudan to take their first timeout.

There was just a different feeling with the Lionesses on the night, as they found ways to make hustle plays and capitalize on missed opponents’ opportunities – something that they hadn’t done in their previous two games.

The best play of the day that most importantly showed the grit from the team came with 5:06 left in the second quarter. Christine Akinyi leapt highest to grab an offensive rebound, got the ball and reworked it to Rose Ouma on the perimeter to create space for a three on top of the key.

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The shots were going in and Kenya deservedly took an 11 point halftime lead before extending the gap in the second half.

Victoria Reynolds perhaps sent a message to the South Sudanese fans inside the arena with three straight buckets from the break before laying an assist to Melissa Otieno for a right wing three – that pushed Kenya’s advantage to 20 points.

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Leading 56-35 heading into the last period, it was not a surprise to see the team shuffled over, paying attention to the fact that there were no rest days for Kenya leading into the finals.

Mercy Wanyama was once again a vital part of the Kenyan offense with 14 points in little over 20 minutes played. Christine Akinyi had a game high 17 points (tied with Reynolds) and an impressive tally of 12 rebounds in 27 minutes played.

Kenya now set their eyes on Egypt before staking a claim on the Zone V title defense on Sunday night.