The Lionesses pushed their opponents in the first two quarters but trailed 21-17 and 18-16 to fall 39-33 at halftime. However, they were blown away in the third quarter 26-9 and despite outscoring Cameroon 11-9 in the last quarter, the damage had already been done. The game ended 74-50 in favor of hosts Cameroon.
The Lionesses were within six points after the first 20 minutes, but we're completely undone in the third quarter and never recovered. Natalie Akinyi and Spain-based Mercy Wanyama jointly top-scored for Kenya with 12 points apiece. Marina Ewodo scored 12 points for the hosts.
The loss puts Kenya in an awkward position as they need to register a huge win against Cape Verde on Sunday to revive their hopes of getting an automatic quarter final ticket if Cameroon fails to floor the Islanders. Earlier, former champions Senegal sent an early warning after mauling Guinea 100-31 in the opening match of the 25th edition of the competition. The Lionesses of Teranga, who have finished the last two editions in second place, led the Guineans 48-19 at halftime after taking the first two quarters 25-10 and 23-9 respectively. They also restricted the Guinea side to below double-digit points in the last periods which the Senegalese comfortably bagged 23-8 and 29-4 in that order.
The best two teams from the 12-nation biennial competition will advance to one of the qualifying tournaments for the 2022 Fiba Women's Basketball World Cup. The tournaments will feature four national teams each, with the top three from each group qualifying for the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup 2022 to complete the 12-team field for the main event in Australia.
All 12 national teams have beed divided into four groups of three each. The winners of each group advance automatically to the Quarter-Finals, while the remaining eight teams will play a Qualifying Round to complete the Quarter-Finals field. The winners of the Quarter-Final advance to Semi-Finals, while the losers will play the classification games for the 5th to 8th Places. The classification game for Third-Place and the Final will be played on the last day of competition (September 26).