Handball: Nairobi Water drown Net Navigators to continue unbeaten run

Gladys Chilo and Brenda Ariviza top scored for Nairobi Water Queens Queens as the Kenya Handball Federation (KHF) women's league champions thrashed Net Navigators 40-18 for a seventh-consecutive victory. 

Chilo scored nine with Ariviza adding seven as Brenda Musambai called the shots on the technical bench as the coach for the day, part of her contribution to the team as she is nursing an ankle injury. 

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The Randy Ochieng-coach Net Navigators put up a fight in the first half, scoring 12 against Water's 19 to head to the break trailing by seven goals.

"We gave a chance to most of the players who do not get to start in other matches and I am impressed with their execution. Damaris Muteshi was, in my opinion, the standout player from the newbies that we tried to give exposure. 

While there is room for improvement and areas that need to be worked on, I am haply that the team I fielded today managed to reach the 40-goals threshold we had set for ourselves," offered Musambai post-match. 

Despite the victory, Musambai says her side still has some adjustments to do when it comes to falling back for defense. 

"Half of the goals we scored were through Net Navigators' fast breaks as our reaction after losing the ball was a bit slow," explained Musambai adding that that could partly be blamed on the fitness level, coming form a four-week break. 

Before their defeat to the defending champions, Net Navigators had picked their third victory in five matches, beating New Hope 36-14. 

Elizabeth Alunga and Sharon Akoth scored nine and eight for Navigators in the victory against the Peter Mwathi led New Hope. 

"We have a young squad that started jittery against Nairobi Water just because of their reputation. However, against New Hope we had an easy game that helped us execute our plays. 

We still work to do as the team has not found the rythm We need for this level. The players are drawn from different parts of the country and we only get two days to train together in Nairobi when we have matches. We are, however, looking for ways to work on that," Net Navigators' skipper and keeper Rose Achieng offered.