17 January 2015

KENYA : USIU-A Flames and Co-op Bank clash in playoffs semis



United States International University- Africa (USIU-A) and Co-operative Bank will face off this weekend as the Kenya Basketball Federation women premier league semifinal playoffs resume.
The fixtures were pushed from December and both teams are seeking their maiden league title. Game one will be played on today, Saturday at the Nyayo National Stadium gymnasium and will stretch to Wednesday if the series goes to the wire.
On paper, USIU-A appears the more experienced side having played in the last two seasons’ final but lost to Eagle Wings and KPA. They are also the Zone V champions and will be looking to add the league title to their cabinet. But first they have to break the bankers’ hurdle this weekend before daring to dream.
Co-op Bank could have an edge at the backcourt with point guard Grace Wanjiku calling the shots while Hilda Indasi will lead USIU-A's offense.
The second semifinal clash will pit Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) against Sprite Storms in Mombasa.
Before the festive season break, both teams had played first two games with KPA leading the series 2-0 after winning 67-41 and 61-24. A win on Saturday for KPA will book them an early ticket to the final while Storms must win the remaining three games, all to be played in Mombasa, to proceed.
Helen Oketch, Yvonne Akinyi and Natalie Akinyi are the notable players for KPA while Storms will rely on Linert Mukiri, Mercy Wanyama and Angela Luchivya. Both teams met at the same stage last season with KPA winning 3-0 en-route to claiming the overall title.
All the games including final will be officiated under the 2014 Fiba rules as follows:
Art 2, 4, 7 no charge zone lines are part of the zone.
Art 18.2.5 time out max of 2two timeouts in the last two minutes of the 4th quarter
Art 29.2.3. On 24 seconds, reset to 14 sec following an offensive rebound.
Art 36 T-foul. Two T fouls leads to disqualification. Penalty for T is one FT.
Classification criteria for tied points shall be by goal difference then goals against and lastly toss of a coin.
Questions if a player is disqualified as a result of 2 T’s and 2 U’s shall the player be allowed to sit on the players bench for the remainder of the game?
Kindly check and read the interpretation of U foul on the last 2 minutes during inbound.
Semifinal Playoffs Fixtures
Jan 17: USIU-A vs Co-op Bank (4pm, Nyayo gymnasium), KPA vs Storms (4pm, KPA); Jan 18: Co-op Bank vs USIU-A (4pm, Nyayo gymnasium), KPA vs Storms (4pm, KPA); Jan 19: KPA vs Storms (4pm, KPA), USIU-A vs Co-op Bank (5pm, Nyayo gymnasium); Jan 20: Co-op Bank vs USIU-A (5pm, Nyayo gymnasium); Jan 21: USIU-A vs Co-op Bank (5pm, Nyayo gymnasium); Finals (Jan 24-Feb 8.)

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