FIBA Africa Women’s Champions Cup: KPA crumble, suffer quarter finals defeat

Kenya Ports Authority’s journey towards clinching a maiden FIBA Africa Women’s Champions Cup came to an end Thursday afternoon as they fell to the Egyptian league champions, Alexandria Sporting Club in a 76-70 defeat at the Pavilhao de Universidade Eduardo Mondlane arena in Maputo, Mozambique.

The loss, a successive one to Alexandria Sporting Club from the previous one in October, sends KPA to the fifth to eighth place classification matches set for this week – with a chance to tie the team’s best record in the championships.

The Dockers best finish came in 2017, when they placed fifth in the tournament held in Luanda, Angola.

KPA had to fight many battles in this game; coming back from a double digit deficit in the third quarter, while engineering a way to rise over their self-inflicted wounds – turnovers.

It is from a string of late turnovers that the game slipped through the hands of the Kenyan champions.

With 3:06 minutes left in the final quarter, KPA hurdled up in a timeout trailing by two, thanks to a furious 11-8 run that at some point had KPA leading 61-58 with 5:49 minutes left, from 58-53 down in the closing minutes of the third quarter.

Off the timeout, and with a chance to tie or take the lead, point guard Natalie Mwangale was picked off while attempting a cross-court pass and Reem Moussa was there to make it count.

Seconds later, in the ensuing KPA possession, Asrar Bakr pinched the ball off Selina Okumu from behind, played it to Cierra Janay who returned the favor, setting Asrar to a three point finish, thanks to a shooting foul from the backtracking Selina Okumu.

What was a two point lead for ASC had turned to a seven point advantage, and it would only get worse for a frustrated Anthony Ojukwu on the KPA sidelines.

Natalie Mwangale, with 2:05 minutes remaining was at the back end of another bad pass, gifting possession to Shayla Cooper who finished off a Hagar Amer missed jumper.

An empty KPA trip led to Shayla Cooper scoring on the other end, capping a 9-0 run in 83 seconds.

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Not even some quick points from Brenda Wasuda and Ifunaya Okoro were going to salvage KPA, as they left crestfallen, despite their best efforts in a remarkable fightback.

All the initial questions pre-game around Natalie Mwangale’s availability were answered as the veteran player turned up with a strapping round her shoulder, and she made her presence count, leading KPA to a comfortable start – leading 16-15 at the end of the first quarter, while keeping the team close with big plays in the second quarter -including a three pointer and multiple no look dishes to Madina Okot.

Alexandria Sporting Club took the lead into halftime, leading 37-34 before dominating the third by five, winning it 21-16.

Ifunaya Okoro was once again the star of the game, leading all scorers with 31 points off a 69% shooting performance from the field.

Madina Okot was the other double digits scorer for KPA, scoring 10 points to go with 10 rebounds, while Theresa Dangosu and Natalie Mwangale scored seven and six points respectively.

Alexandria Sporting Club proceed to the semifinals as KPA awaits to know their opponents in the round of placement games.