By Spy Uganda
The MTN Arena in Kampala was the stage of electrifying events on Wednesday as hosts Uganda shocked Egypt while South Sudan rallied to register their first win in this year’s FIBA Africa Zone 5 qualifiers for the 2023 Women’s AfroBasket.
Uganda vs Egypt (86-85)
A super show by Jannon Otoo, who poured in a game-high of 27 points and 14 rebounds, put smiling faces to many Ugandans who thought it would be another bleak day, but the day belonged to Uganda who shocked Egypt 86-85 in a thriller encounter.
Her player of the match performance gave the hosts a huge lift off after they suffered a heart breaking 61-53 loss at the hands of the reigning champions Kenyans in their opening fixture.
It was Egypt who led 28-22 in the first quarter where veteran Soraia Deghady seemed to be in a shooting session as she connected on every shot she attempted. Uganda battled hard to take the second stanza 28-10
After the breather of this evenly contested tie, it was the Egyptians who hanged on with a slim 23-22 edge.
But Uganda stormed back into contention with a monster last quarter making it a 10-point difference with a 24-14 advantage.
Otto’s performance was complimented by Hope Akelo who contributed 14 points and picked up 11 rebounds while Brenda Ekone added another 13 points for the winners.
Raneen Elgedawy posted 22 points, Meral Abdelgawad sank 12 that went with 11 rebounds with Deghady and Nadine Mohamed connecting for 17 points each.
SOUTH SUDAN v RWANDA (54-40)
The South Sudanese, who never won a game during the 2021 Qualifiers hosted in Kigali, wanted this result more and they earned it to the hard way in a match that started on a low key.
After trailing 13-8 in the first quarter, they closed in 13-11 in the second before going for the kill after intermission with a virtuoso show that left the Rwandese shell shocked.
Nyamuoch Pidor was the architect as South Sudan clawed back and together with Acheil Marko rallied to take the third with a 18-12 margin and the fourth with a rampaging 15-4 display to crown it.
Pidor put up a top performance registering 18 points that included five treys. She pulled 5 rebounds, dished out three assists, had two steals to wind it up with a block. Marko managed 11 points.
There was no Rwandese who recorded double digit scores but the busiest was Marie Laurence who had eight rebounds, 4 points, 3 steals to go with 1 assist.
