Basketball in Africa

Until UCU Lady Canons lost 75-64 to Kenya’s Eagle Wings during the Zone 5 Club Championships in August, some air of invincibility had built around the university side.

Before that tournament held in Kampala, they were untouchable and talk of them lifting the Airtel National Basketball League title unbeaten had become ripe.

But the Kenyans put brakes on their run and local rivals KCCA Leopards picked a leaf by beating UCU 62-55 in the Zone 5 bronze match. If that was smoke screen, better was to come from KCCA as they prevented UCU from completing the regular season league unbeaten with a 70-60 victory. That was the best basketball KCCA played in more than a year.

The blanket conclusion is that this year’s finals will be closer than last December when UCU swept away KCCA 4-0 in an anticlimactic finish. Nonetheless, one result doesn’t change the tide completely.
It only took the two-time defending champions out of their step. UCU still possess the quality in depth to win a third successive title and fourth in five years.“Our goal this year is to win three in a row,” UCU shooting guard Maureen Amoding, the 2010 MVP, said. Their strength is depth on the inside helped by the development of Peace Prosocovia. The player UCU must keep an eye on, however, is KCCA’s Flavia Oketcho.