Kenya Lionesses stun favourites Egypt to qualify for FIBA Afrobasket

NAIROBI, Kenya, Jul 17 – The Kenya Lionesses roared to perfection, stunning pre-tournament favourites Egypt 99-83 in Kigali on Saturday evening to qualify for the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket which will be staged in Cameroon in September.

The Lionesses rose back from a poor start to the tournament to lay revenge on the Egyptians who beat them 107-16 when they met in the first round matches.

USA-based Felmas Koranga, Victoria Reynolds and skipper Melissa Akinyi, daughter to revered football legend John ‘Bobby’ Ogolla put up a scintillating performance to see the Lionesses earna  ticket to Cameroon.

There was joy, laughter, hugs and high fives at the Kugali Arena as the Kenyan girls savoured their moment, following up to the Kenya Morans’ first ever qualification to the continental showpiece after 23 years.

The Kenyan contingent was well represented in the individual awards with Reynolds being named the tournament’s Most valuable Player as well as the best small forward while Koranga, younger sister to Kenya Morans star Ariel Okall was named best power forward.

Reynolds, named Most Valuable Player was elated with the victory and said; “It was a very competitive tournament and getting this award on my first time here with the team is unbelievable. I am pleased we have won and qualified.”

Assistant coach Mike Opel said; “Egypt has been a thorn in the flesh for so long but now we have won and this feels great. It is all about persistence. We never gave up from the word go and when we took the lead we ran away with it. Even when we made mistakes we kept pushing the girls and they responded well to the instructions we gave them.”