Mayienga keen on maintaining Zone Five winning squad for Afrobasket

Fresh from guiding his charges, Kenya Lionesses to lifting the FIBA Zone Five title to qualify for this year's Women's Afrobasket due on September 17 to 26 in Cameroon, coach George Mayienga says a change in training regime is needed ahead of the continental championship.  

Mayienga was appointed the national women's basketball team coach in April, taking over the reigns from renowned coach and FIBA instructor Ronnie Owino who had guided Lionesses in the 2019 Afrobasket appearance in Dakar, Senegal. 

The Zone Five qualifiers were Mayienga's first assignment with the Lionesses and they played to a 77-45 loss in the opening match against Rwanda. This was Kenya's first defeat to the Rwandese side in the zone. 

"We trained under very strict Covid-19 protocols here in Nairobi and that saw us head out to Rwanda having not played any friendly matches. That meant our squad chemistry was untested until we played Rwanda." He said.

Lionesses started their championship on the right footing, keeping Rwanda in check for the first half of the encounter to head to the break trailing by three points. However, things went south for the Kenyans in the second half as Rwanda managed to restrict the home girls to just one basket, scored by Felmas Koranga in the third quarter to give up any hope of catching up with the tournament host.

"As a coach, I purposed to use that match as my friendly match so when we lost I knew what needed to be done. There was backlash for that loss but we couldn't go explaining our strategy to the masses we stuck to our plan and in the end we got the desired results," Mayienga explained. 

The 66-48 win against South Sudan in Lionesses second match was followed by a 107-106 loss to Egypt. Mayienga's charges had lef by 25 points at half time against the Pharaohs. 

"I must admit it was annoying losing to Egypt but looking at their experience compared to the squad I had, we knew we were on to something. We met Rwanda knowing how to handle them and did the same in the final. The first step to overcoming that loss to Egypt was accepting our mistakes,"

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"Video analysis played a huge role in helping the players accept and change how we handled matches going forward," said Mayienga adding that many had written the team off after that loss to Rwanda but God's grace saw them remain focused. 

With the work done and the ticket to the 27th edition of the Women's Afrobasket secured, Mayienga acknowledges that the task ahead is even tougher. 

"We are aware that the task ahead will not be easy. It gets tougher and proper preparations are required. The first thing I would want to change is our training regime. We need to have more time together as a unit. There are areas that also need some changes but at the moment I am not at liberty to disclose such. There could be a few changes to the team as we intend to give a chance to some players but the core of the team remains," he concluded.