JUNIOR GAZELLES QUALIFY FOR AFRO-BASKET FINALS AFTER WINNING THE ZONE 5 QUALIFIES.
The Uganda National Under 18 Basketball Girls’ team, the Junior Gazelles will be at the FIBA Afro-Basketball U-18 finals for the fourth time after putting up an amazing performance and winning the 2022 FIBA Zone Five U18 Afro-Basket Preliminaries in Kampala.
The final tournament will be hosted in Madagascar from July 23rd. to August 7th. 2022 at the Mahamasina Sports Palace in Antananarivo.
To qualify for Madagascar, the Junior Gazelles matched past their counterparts from Tanzania with a 63 – 43 points in a MUST win match having lost 52 – 43 to Rwanda.
The Junior Gazelles started the game on a high with a 8-0 run which saw them finish the first quarter strongly at 16-8.
Coming to the second quarter and the subsequent third and fourth quarters, the junior Gazelles kept their heads high and finally delivered a sweet 20 points win _ 63 - 43 with Sylivia Nantongo shooting a game high 17 points and added 11 rebounds while Mariam Namukwaya and Gertrude Nyamutooro also gave in double figures performance with 10 points each.
In Madagascar, Uganda will have yet another chance to face off with the continent’s big weights in the U-18 category in the likes of Mali, Algeria among others.
The Junior Gazelles have previously made appearances in Tunisia _ 2008; Egypt _ 2016 and Mozambique _ 2018 and will now be in Madagascar to not only fight for the African honors but also use the opportunity to finish in the top two positions that will see them qualify for the2023 FIBA U19 World Cup that will take place from July 15th. to 23rd. 2023in Madrid, Spain.
At the end of the championship, Sylvia Nantongo was named MVP for the tournament and also walked away with the Top Scorer’s accolade.
Her average competition stats in four games were at 29:48 minutes played; 10.3 points scored; 9.0 rebounds and 1.3 assists.
The Squad:
Players – Priscillar Nambogo, Karungi Patience, Darlene Tashobya, Sharifah Nalwadda, Mariam Namukwaya, Adongpiny Immaculate, Sharon Lamwaka, Sylvia Nantongo, Christine Namyalo, Shilla Lamunu, Zoe Atek, Namale Sarah, Rose Asiruku
The Coaches:
Mavita Ali, Rogers Serunyingo and Jonathan Egau
Story by Joseph Mary Ssempiira www.sportznow.ug Writer
