Basketball in Africa

By Alex Monye
With two straight wins against the Nigeria Customs, whom they defeated 60 - 55 on Sunday and Yesterday's 71 - 51 victory over Benue Princesses, the Inspector General of Police Queens yesterday emerged as the first team to book a semi-final ticket at the on-going 11th annual Zenith Bank Women Basketball League holding at the Indoor Sports hall of the National Stadium Surulere, Lagos. Also through to the semifinals is the defending champion, First Bank of Lagos.
The Elephant Girls defeated Benue Princess 95-30 in day one to earn their first victory before beating the Nigerian Customs yesterday.
Group B top contenders, Dolphins of Lagos also cruised to the semifinals yesterday after whitewashing Sunshine Angels of Akure in a one-sided game.
Excited over their victory, Captain of IGP Queens, Julie Onyelugo, said she was happy to lead the police team to their first ever semifinals since the commencement of the Zenith Bank Women Basketball League 11 years ago.
Also speaking on their feat, Gift Samson, who stated that the best for the IGP Queens this year was to lift the Zenith Bank trophy, said her team is as good as emerging champions.
Meanwhile, with two straight loses, Benue Princess yesterday became the first team to crash out of the competition alongside Sunshine Angels of Akure and the Nigeria Customs team.