Basketball in Africa

Women premier league defending champions Eagle Wings have all but lost the title after being locked out of the playoffs final by USIU-A on a 1-3 series loss.
The win was a sweet revenge for the students who lost 2-0 to Wings in last year’s final as well as both matches in the regular season this year.
They also lost the Zone V title to the same team in Burundi in August. USIU-A will now play Kenya Ports Authority, KPA, in the final after the Dockers eliminated Sprite Storms 3-0.
Leading 2-0 after winning the first two games in Nairobi last weekend, KPA only needed a win at their Makande gymnasium to seal qualification.
They managed to overpower the visitors with a 45-34 win on Saturday helped by 14 points each from Brenda Angeshi and Yvonne Akinyi. Angela Luchivya scored 9 for Storms.
At the Nyayo gymnasium, USIU proved to be the superior side beating their opponents in speed to add on to their 60-51 win in game three played Saturday.
Blind passes cost Wings heavily gifting USIU a huge chunk of possession mostly in the second half. With a 13-11 win in the opening quarter, things seemed bright for Wings until they began to lose focus inside the second quarter that USIU won 14-7.
The students built on their 25-20 halftime lead to outplay Wings and at one point had opened up a 19 points lead.
They enormously won the third quarter 22-12 and not even the 19-16 win in the fourth quarter could help Wings force game five.
Hilda Indasi top scored for USIU with 18 points and ten rebounds while Emma Nyakweba had 15 points and seven rebounds. Angela Akoth scored 13 points for Wings and Natalie Akinyi added 12.
George Mayienga, USIU head coach, said; “This is all because of hard work. Playing against a team with five international players and massive experience was not easy considering we won three consecutive games.”
Indasi was the most used player in the USIU side playing for 40 minutes and Mayienga justified his decision which paid off. “She deserved it. With Emma fouling too much, she was the right person to cover for that.”
USIU, Eagles off to Morocco 
The two teams will fly out of the country on Tuesday to take part in the FIBA Champions Cup for Women in Morocco from November 20-30.
Wings will now play Storms in the third place playoff while KPA will be represented in both categories heading to the finals. KPA men will play champions Co-op Bank in the men premier final.
Melissa Akinyi scored a game high 25 points to help Strathmore University finish fifth after beating Co-operative Bank 67-66 in their ranking match. The bankers will be contented with the sixth spot. Spaces take up the seventh after Western Delight failed to show up as the Westerners finish eighth.
In division one, Umoja finished fifth with a 54-41 win over Little Prince who take up sixth. The seventh position was taken by Zetech College after beating Trailblazers 76-62 in their ranking match. Trailblazers are eighth.
Playoffs final for men premier and division one begin November 20 at the Kasarani gymnasium.
Collated Results: Saturday- Umoja 70 Zetech College 54, Trailblazers 58 Little Prince 65, Co-op Bank 87 Safe Spaces 60, Strathmore University 48 Nairobi Aviation College 47, Eagle Wings 51 USIU Flames 60, KPA 45 Sprite Storms 34; Sunday- Strathmore University 67 Co-op Bank 66, Umoja 54 Little Prince 41, Zetech College 76 Trailblazers 62, USIU Flames 63 Eagle Wings 51.