Kananu haunts former employers with winning Basket as Equity hit KPA

NAIROBI, Kenya, Feb 19 – Betty Kananu sunk the match winning shot with 0.02secs left as defending champions Equity Hawks beat Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) 53-51 to earn game one advantage in the play-offs final for the Kenya Basketballl Federation Women’s league title.

At the start of the last quarter, Hawks trailed the dockers by as many as 10 points, but on the offensive rebound, Kananu rose to push the ball in as the hosts turned over the poor start to lead the best of five series 1-0.

On a day when their offensive rebounding was wanting, it was a paradox that the holders would clutch the match winning basket off the same play.

“We controlled the boards well but our offense was a bit erratic. I think it was more of nerves with the stage we are on. But this is a best of five series and whatever you can put in the bag you take it. It doesn’t matter how,” said Sylvia Kamau, the Hawks head coach.

She added; “We still have game two on Sunday and we need to control our offense better and also ensure our guards penetrate better to give us opportunities to earn more points.”

Anthony Ojukwu, the KPA head coach was bullish despite his side losing a comfortable lead.

“Basketball is a game of focus and concentration and towards the end, we lost that. We played three quarters of good basketball but we lost it at the end. I will not change anything for game two. I just believe they (Equity) were lucky today and I am confident we will win Game Two,” the coach stated.

Kananu was Equity’s best scorer of the evening, amassing 12 points while national team captain Melissa Akinyi had 10, same as Salma Akinyi.

KPA’s power girl Natalie Akinyi had a game high 14 points for the dockers who were missing another star player in Hilda Indasi who is serving a two-match suspension after being ejected in the semi-final win over Storms in Mombasa last weekend.

KPA started better and led 16-11 at the end of the opening quarter, with Natalie’s driving prowess putting them comfortably ahead. Equity however outscored KPA with 13 against 12 points, with the two sides going to the break with the Mombasa-based side enjoying a four-point lead with a 28-24 score.

The dockers would stretch the game to a six point lead at the end of the third quarter and upon resumption, pulled further away to lead by 10, before Equity began their comeback.

Skipper Samba Mjomba was fouled out and had to see off the remaining seven minutes of the match  from the bench. In her absence, Hilda Ndegwa stepped up and rove the team forward.

With 2:09 to play, Ndegwa, nicknamed Dante, swung in a wonderful three-pointer to take Equity to within two points. With 1:21 to play, Melissa drove forward and picked out Kananu with a brilliant pass.

She was fouled in the arc, but only converted one of two free throws, the game now at 49-48 in favour of KPA. With 59secs to play, Ndegwa powered in to the paint and drew a foul, giving Equity a chance to go half a basket up.

However, she converted none of her two free throws. On the other end, Natalie drew a foul and converted both her free throws with 45.6 left on the clock and took her side 51-48 up.

The tension and fight in the game was just starting and with 35.7to play, youngster Maryanne Nyagaki was fouled and converted one of her two free throws to take the game back to a single basket contest.

On the rebound, Equity won back the ball and it was swung to Ndegwa’s path, the pint-sized point guard clutching a two-point shot to tie the game at 51-ups, 23secs left on the clock.

Equity pressed high, but KPA found a way to zoom into their half, but they couldn’t sink a basket and the ball going out. From the line ball, Ndegwa drove the ball in and with took a shot from inside the arc which bounced off the rim.

However, Kananu rose and despite jumping off balance with 0.02 on the clock, managed to sink in the basket. KPA called for a time out to get possession but despite that, they were clocked out with Equity hanging on for the vital game one win.