09 October 2006
NIGERIA : First Bank of Lagos retaining the title
The 2006 season of the Zenith Bank Female Basketball League rounded Saturday night with defending champions First Bank of Lagos retaining the trophy they won last year in Abuja where the first final play off held.
The Bankers’ team, nicknamed Elephant Girls, pummeled Delta Force of Asaba 68-35 in the very last of the series at the National Stadium, Lagos.
The win gave them the maximum 14points in the week-long play off as they defeated all other teams including their feeder team the Blue Angels. The play off result also gave the Satellite Town-based team a one hundred percent outing in the league this year as they did not drop any game through the conference play off that began in Asaba last July.
The ladies were rewarded for their effort with N500, 000 cash and a trophy. They also picked the first slot for the African champions club for the Nigerian teams.
The Elephant Girls were followed by Dolphins who won five matches to secure 12 points. They followed in the third and fourth places by Delta Force and the Blue Angels.
The second to the fourth teams got N300, 000, N150, 000 and N50, 000 respectively. The Dolphins, like First Bank, also got a continental ticket to the next African clubs championship.
“Losing out from the initial conference play off taught us a lesson and kept us on our feet. It was quite embarrassing having to go to Abuja and play with the other losers but that helped because we knew we had to sit up properly to achieve something in Lagos.
If we didn’t falter at that stage perhaps we would have entered these finals to relaxed and unprepared,” Wale Aboderin, the proprietor of Dolphins Club told THISDAYSports at the National Stadium.
The remaining fifth to eighth positions were taken by Sunshine Angels of Akure, Nigeria Customs, Immigrations, and AHIP of Kano respectively.
The eight teams have automatically formed the Premier League for women while the other female teams in the country would compete in the lesser division.
Zenith Bank became the title sponsors of the league last year with N7.5m and was increased to N10m this season.
F
The Bankers’ team, nicknamed Elephant Girls, pummeled Delta Force of Asaba 68-35 in the very last of the series at the National Stadium, Lagos.
The win gave them the maximum 14points in the week-long play off as they defeated all other teams including their feeder team the Blue Angels. The play off result also gave the Satellite Town-based team a one hundred percent outing in the league this year as they did not drop any game through the conference play off that began in Asaba last July.
The ladies were rewarded for their effort with N500, 000 cash and a trophy. They also picked the first slot for the African champions club for the Nigerian teams.
The Elephant Girls were followed by Dolphins who won five matches to secure 12 points. They followed in the third and fourth places by Delta Force and the Blue Angels.
The second to the fourth teams got N300, 000, N150, 000 and N50, 000 respectively. The Dolphins, like First Bank, also got a continental ticket to the next African clubs championship.
“Losing out from the initial conference play off taught us a lesson and kept us on our feet. It was quite embarrassing having to go to Abuja and play with the other losers but that helped because we knew we had to sit up properly to achieve something in Lagos.
If we didn’t falter at that stage perhaps we would have entered these finals to relaxed and unprepared,” Wale Aboderin, the proprietor of Dolphins Club told THISDAYSports at the National Stadium.
The remaining fifth to eighth positions were taken by Sunshine Angels of Akure, Nigeria Customs, Immigrations, and AHIP of Kano respectively.
The eight teams have automatically formed the Premier League for women while the other female teams in the country would compete in the lesser division.
Zenith Bank became the title sponsors of the league last year with N7.5m and was increased to N10m this season.
F
# posted by afrbk : 18:23
