Basketball in Africa

by Pius Ayinor
Lagos

The Zenith Bank Basketball League for Women ended by the weekend with defending champions First Bank retaining their trophy. Indeed the Elephant Girls have dominated and won the league since it began four years ago.
This season First Bank proved they were yet to have formidable opponents by maintaining one hundred percent performance in 27 matches played across different parts of the country since the month of March.
In their last game late Saturday, they defeated Delta Force of Asaba 62-47 in a match watched by a large crowd. Dolphins, who finished at the second position, dropped six matches just as the third best team - Delta Force. Dolphins went ahead of Delta on head-to-head rule having won all three of their encounters.

The match between Delta Force and the winners played out above the rating of analysts as the ladies from Asaba took the initial lead and held on positively through the break. First Bank won the third quarter out rightly and that gave them a lee way to the buzzer.
In Saturday's closing ceremony sponsors of the league, Zenith Bank told the players and the spectators that they were delighted by the quality of the league and were proud to be associated by such young talents assembled from across the country.
The Zenith Bank Managing Director, who was represented by the Deputy General Manager - Oils and Gas Bukola Latunji, said: "We have followed this competition from Abuja through Enugu and we are really touched by the competitive spirit of these young ladies. Our desire is to ensure that young people are kept positively active all the time. Zenith Bank is committed to ensuring that young people develop and use their talent in a way that can benefit them and the society. And we glad to help build up their capacity and that is the reason we are putting our money into basketball because we know that this league affects lives, especially these young ones in very useful way. And we assure them that we still committed to the Zenith Bank League."
Owners of the league, the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) said they were committed to making the league more attractive to the players, the sponsors and the fans of the game.
For winning the Zenith Bank League, the Elephant Girls got a trophy, and a cash prize of N750, 000. Dolphins earned N500, 000 and also got a continental ticket like the champions. Both teams, and possibly Delta Force will represent Nigeria in the 2008 African Women Club Championship fixed for October.
Chioma Udeaja of First Bank emulated her club by retaining the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award. The national power forward/center has won the award in the last three seasons. She took home a cash prize of N50, 000 in addition to the N15, 000 she got as the highest scorer through the three phases.There were other individual awards.
The next season for the league will open in November with 10 teams participating.