Kenya Morans’ return to the Fiba Afrobasket championship started on a wrong foot as they went down fighting 88-70 to Cote d’Ivoire in their Group C game played at the Kigali Arena on Wednesday night.
Liz Mills Morans had a good start in the opening quarter, losing by two points (26-24) before taking the second quarter 13-15.
The more experienced West Africans soon found their groove in the third and fourth quarter (22-15, 28-16) to take away the game from the Kenyans.
Group favourites Nigeria had earlier beaten Mali 81-73 in the other game of the day.
Ivory Coast, who are five times African champions used their experience in the second half winning 21-15 in the third quarter and 28-16 in the final quarter for the 88-70 victory.
Morans were impressive in the first quarters, but ran out of gas in the last two quarters as their West African opponents put them to the sword.
Kenya’s Tylor Ongwae top scored with 25 points while the Ivorians had Matt Costello scoring star with 22 points
The Morans face Nigeria in their second match on Thursday.