Basketball in Africa

By Oscar Pilipili

Laiser Hill of Rift Valley and Shimba Hills from Coast are winners of boys’ and girls’ basketball at the 2009 Brookside Kenya Secondary Schools Sports Term One Championships.

Laiser beat Western’s Friends School Kamusinga 94-55 in a nerve-cracking final to retain the trophy at Kangaru Boys, Embu.
Shimba Hills routed Tigoi of Western 114-20 in a girls’ final to lift their first-ever national basketball title.
The match between Laiser and Kamusinga measured up to a final of titans with tactical displays from both teams on Saturday.
It was 33-point effort from captain, Sudi Ulanga that dashed Kamusinga’s dream of winning their first national trophy in basketball.
Ulanga was outstanding throughout and proved his ability to hit three pointers by converting four of them in the match that was watched by a large crowd.

Brothers excel

The towering Laiser forward Nol Mayieng hit 17 points for the team with Kamusinga’s inspirational captain Okari Ongwae recording game-high 35 points.
Ongwae, who played alongside his brother James Omweno, is the main man in the team and his skillful play has won him many admirers including scouts from other schools.
One of his fans was his mother Florence, who camped at the venue to cheer her sons throughout the Championships.

we gave up

Ongwae said: "I don’t know what happened. My teammates gave up in the second half when they started to trail Laiser."
"Many times we played in front, but when we started trailing Laiser the morale went down," he said.

Laiser coach Anthony Kirimi said: "We left nothing to chance because we knew Kamusinga were nota joke. They are a very good side with determination to excel."
Shimba Hills routed Tigoi of Western 114-54 in a girls’ final to ensure the trophy remains in Coast Province.
Mombasa High who won it last year were not in Embu since their school changed its name to Khumbar.
Captain Purity Adhiambo led from the front scoring 48 points with Susan Akinyi and Fatma Mohammed contributing 32 and 18 apiece for the Coastal team.
Hileevi Ayodi managed 22 points for Tigoi with teammate Stephanie Tonga adding 10. The match was closely fought in the first quarter with Tigoi taking a one-point lead at 20-19.