The Kenya Women Basketball team also dubbed Lioness will be facing Egypt in the AfroBasket Qualifier final to finally determine who wins a ticket to the prestigious AfroBasket tournament in Cameroon. The lionesses earned their final after finally getting their revenge against a tough Rwandese side the scores reading 79-52 while Egypt kept their unbeaten run by overpowering South Sudan 99-65, all matches having taken place on July 16th.
Lioness captain Melissa Akinyi exploded to a 21-point lead steering Kenya to victory over the hosts Rwanda. The skipper proved to be quite lethal as she also had 4 assists and 3 steals to her name. Victoria Reynolds remained extremely consistent in her amazing form after gannering 16 points with 6 rebounds and 3 steals to her name. Felmas Koranga maintained a solid defense for the Lioness after 3 blocks that got the Rwandese side desperately looking for options past her.
"Considering how we played against Rwanda in the first match, we knew we did not play well and we watched the videos of that match an worked on our mistakes. We had a slow start today and after trailing by eight points we knew something had to change. That timeout in the first half was the turning point. We knew we won't have another chance to play a semi and that called for a better game," said Melissa Akinyi.
Coach George Mayienga was in full trust of the services of Natalie Akinyi, Victoria Reynolds, Melissa, Mercy Wanyama and Felmas Koranga for his starting five, and his charges won the jump off ball but Natalie gave up her first pass to the Rwandese, redeeming herself almost immediately with a steal only to have another bad pass that ended on Rwanda's hands for their first basket 24 seconds into the match.
After that, the Lioness went on a scoring spree with Koranga, Melissa, Reynolds leading the onslaught to score 17 points in the period while restricting Rwanda to 12 for a 42-23 advantage at half time. Rwanda reached 20 points with four minutes left on the second quarter clock but Kenya’s zone defence proved a tough one to penetrate and the hosts could only manage one basket and a point from the line until the half time whistle went. In the Final 50 seconds of the game, Christine Akinyi scored a 3-pointer that would finally set the Kenyan squad clear to victory, the scores reading 79-52. The Lioness will now take on Egypt in the AfroBasket Zone Five Qualifiers final today evening, July 17th.