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After four years of no activity for the women’s national team, the Gazelles would rather be in such a high-profile contest than at home following the qualifiers on YouTube.
Fiba women’s Zone V Afrobasket Qualifiers
Final
Uganda vs. Egypt -6pm
Bronze game
South Sudan vs. Kenya -3pm
The Uganda Gazelles are where they want to be. In the final game of the Fiba Women’s Zone V AfroBasket Qualifiers.
One more win and it will be a return to the AfroBasket for the first time since 2015. But the opponent before Alberto Antuna’s charges have a heavy unit before them and they must shove it aside to break the door and into the finals.
Egypt, the Gazelles’ opponents in the ultimate game, are tried and tested. They lost the last final to Kenya and have already fallen to Uganda in this particular tournament.
The Pharaohs blowout win over Kenya on Saturday ensured yet another clash with the Gazelles, who beat them 86-85 on Wednesday and are backed by the home crowd.
Raneem Elgedawy is arguably the best player in the tournament, averaging 18.7 points and 8.7 rebounds. She knows her way around the rim and is a walking bucket.
Her 23 points and 11 rebounds helped the Pharaohs book a slot in the final and also dump Kenya out of it.
Soraia Deghady’s flamboyancy and Nadine Mohamed’s threat from three-point range make Egypt a tough opponent to face.
It is a team of text book basketball and make the game seem quite easy to play.
Gazelles ready
But after four years of no activity for the women’s national team, the Gazelles would rather be in such a high-profile contest than at home following the qualifiers on YouTube.
And the last time the team qualified, it was inside the same Lugogo Indoor Stadium and backed by a deafening home crowd. And that crowd has been on top of its game all tournament.
The Gazelles required a hard-fought win over Egypt to get their campaign in order after a 61-53 loss to Kenya in the opener.
And since that loss, it is now three wins on the bounce for the hosts, who will be looking to complete the task by winning the last game of the qualifiers.
Jannon Otto continues to be Uganda’s first option on offense and is averaging 17 points and nine rebounds. Her ability to handle the ball, create her own shot but also get the other players into the game makes her Uganda’s best player.
But Egypt will have scouted her going into the final.
What beat the Egyptians the most on Wednesday was the tempo with which the Gazelles played. Rebounding well, getting the outlets early and running at the North African before they set their defence.
Brenda Ekone was unplayable then and continues to shine for the Gazelles. Her style of play is what the Gazelles must go through to beat Egypt.
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