KIGALI (Rwanda) – There was a little bit of everything in the qualifying phase of FIBA Women’s AfroBasket 2023. Suspense, surprises, joy, tears of sadness, some teams qualified for the quarterfinals and others missed the chance to go through the next round
After Cameroon’s victory over Mozambique, after Uganda’s victory over Senegal at the start of the tournament, they needed another feat.
And it was Guinea who did it, beating 2-time African champions Angola 71-69 to reach the quarter-finals for the preceding since 1994.
In other matches, Senegal redeemed themselves from a poor start to the tournament by beating Egypt 71-60, while Mozambique quietly qualified for the quarter-finals by beating Ivory Coast. Uganda grabbed the last ticket to be held on Wednesday, August 2.
Here is a recap of Tuesday’s match at the BK Arena in Kigali
ANGOLA – GUINEA
Aicha Mara
It was a first day for Guinea.
As Guinea beat Angola 71-60, it shone through Masseny Kaba, who multiplied his exploits on both ends of the pitch to help the West African nation reach the quarter-finals for the preceding since 1994.
After a poor start to the tournament with a 99-40 defeat against Mozambique, Guinea showed more application in their second game, against Cameroon.
But if the difference was still significant, they showed another face, more combatant this time. And this, thanks to the presence of the allies Kaba.
Against Angola, Kaba had 26 points, 14 rebounds and 4 assists. “We are very delighted with this victory. Everyone saw us as people who have nothing and that does not bother us. We just wanted to show that women’s basketball exists in Guinea,” he told FIBA.basketball.
Guinea will face 2021 silver medalists Mali in the quarter-finals, hoping to spring another surprise.
As Masseny Kaba says himself, qualifying for the quarter-finals is a feat in itself and Guinea will give the best against Mali in the next matches. “When we started so poor, no one would bet a day’s work on us. But we are here and we will fight until the end”.
SENEGAL – EGYPT
Senegal finally redeemed themselves from their early defeats against Mali and Uganda by beating Egypt in the qualifying round match 71-60.
While the Teranga Lionesses had three players finish in double figures, they suffered Egypt’s dominance 24-18 in the first quarter, before coming back to 20-11 in the second quarter.
The North Africans found a way to turn things around, outscoring Senegal 17-13 in the third quarter. But the Senegalese, on the road to redemption, outscored the Egyptians 20-8 in the final quarter to claim their first win at FIBA Women’s AfroBasket 2023.
Fatou Babou Diagne was Senegal’s top scorer with 17 points, adding 10 rebounds.
Yacine Diop and Aya Traore finished with 10 points each, while Oumoul Sarr and Fatou Dieng finished one point shy of double figures.
MOZAMBIQUE – IVORY COAST
Tamara Seda
After their surprise loss to Cameroon on the opening day, Mozambique knew they could not afford to lose the qualification round if they wanted to advance to the semi-finals.
But first, they had to go to the quarterfinals.
And they easily passed the test of Ivory Coast 70-48 to join the other seven teams that will fight for a place in the semi-finals.
Leia Dongue was once again the pillar of the Guerreiras’ success, with a double-double (18 points, 13 rebounds) to her name, while Tamara Seda had another with 10 points and 11 rebounds. Silvia Veloso contributed to the victory with 11 points, 5 rebounds and 5 steals.
Mozambique will face defending champions Nigeria in the quarter-finals with hopes of advancing to the semi-finals.
UGANDA – DR CONGO
Jane Asinde
Uganda sealed their ticket to the first quarter-final of the women’s AfroBasket by defeating Dr. Congo 78-62.
Although DR Congo had the better start with a 15-12 run, the Gazelles ended up outscoring their opponents during the second quarter (18-15) to equalize (30-30) at halftime.
The turning point of the match came as the East African nation returned from half time with new energy in their legs. They ended the third quarter with a 23-15 run and took a comfortable 8-point lead.
DR Congo, on the other hand, found new reserves of energy and fought back, but Uganda scored 8 more points (25-17) than their opponents to claim victory and advance to the quarter finals.
Jannon Otto once again led the Gazelles offense with 18 points and 9 rebounds, while Jane Asinde also added 18 units to Uganda’s total. Hope Akello was Uganda’s leading rebounder with 11.
Gracia Nguz and Ketia Mbelu held on for DR Congo but their 28 points did not qualify them for the next round.
Uganda will face Rwanda in the quarter-finals with hopes of reaching the semi-finals, a feat they have never achieved in two appearances at the main FIBA Africa women’s event.
FIBA
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