Lionesses fall to Egypt in entertaining Afrobasket clash

Lionesses had elected to start the match with Natalie Akinyi, Victoria Reynolds, Felmas Koranga, Mercy Wanyama and Rose Ouma against the formidable Egypt.

"First, I am very proud of how we played today. We had a good game, especially in the first half. We executed well and our shots were dropping. Everyone played as a team. In the second half they changed their defence to full-court press and we did not handle it well. We allowed them easy baskets while missing ours and we lost it on defence," said Lionesses assistant coach Mike Opel adding that they still have some work to do ahead of the semis.

Watching Lionesses against Egypt was a joy. George Mayienga's charges had cleaned up their act in a big way. They had the game from the onset. Plays were thought out and executed with precision. They defended their paint like life depended on it, allowing Egypt little space to penetrate.

The turnovers were gone and in their place, a squad that took its time to look for that shooting chance. Everyone on the court woke up with 'hot hands' shots were dropping and that frustrated the Egyptians. With frustration comes bad decision, and Lionesses capitalised on them all.

The home girls gave the warning shot from the first whistle, running away with possession and a 15 seconds later, with a foul having already been committed on Wanyama, Koranga rose above her marker for a mid-range opener for Lionesses.

The Kenyans led 10-2 but Egypt pulled two baskets back for the scores to read 10-6 with 5.30 minutes to play in the first quarter. Mayienga's charges, however, found their major and played a beautiful game of basketball for a 32-11 lead at the end of the period.

They picked from where they left on resumption and stretched the lead, hitting the half century mark while restricting Egypt to just 2, with a Melissa Akinyi floater and a converted free throw, with 5.15 minutes to play in the second period.

Lionesses were unstoppable, and everything they did worked. In the remaining five minutes, it was their show and Velma Owino alongside Reynolds orchestrated a 66-41 outcome hitting double digits at 14 and 11 points.

Everything that could go wrong went wrong in the second half of Lionesses game plan. Egypt, with their classic defense tactics took down Kenya's lead one basket at a time. By the end of the third period, they had cut Lionesses advantage from 25 to 12 in a 84-72 scoreline.

Egypt cut the lead to less than ten points at 77-86 and went on to assume the lead at 92-91, pilling the pressure on Lionesses. It was a give and take affair until the final seconds of the match when Egypt knocked down a trey and a jumper to take their lead to four points. Ouma cut the deficit to half a basket but with 11 seconds left on the clock and the possession going to the opponent, the Kenyas ran out of time to make a comeback.