Nigeria Customs Ladies were back to winning ways, on Monday afternoon by defeating Overdose Up Station du Cameroun 67-58 dunks, and that was less than 24 hours of their ouster from the inaugural edition of the FIBA Africa Women’s League (AWBL), being staged in Alexandria, Egypt.
The Customs Ladies were on Sunday night beaten by Angolan champions, Inter-Clube of Congo; who advanced to the semi-finals, while Nigeria Customs regressed to the classification games for 5th-8th.
The victory was however in no way, straight forward for the Zone 3 Champions. Despite a strong start that saw them win the first two periods 18-17 and 23-11.
The Coach Mohammed Abdulrahman tutored side were on the back-foot in the third quarter, and got beaten 24-11 by Overdose Up Station, who leveled the scores at 52-52 dunks, going into the decisive fourth quarter.
Like in their last group game against CNSS of the DR Congo, the
Nigeria Customs needed to fight harder. This they did by tightening the screws, and digging deeper to win the fourth period 15-6; and the encounter 67-58.
Captain Nkem Akawaiwe was again the top performer for Nigeria Customs; contributing 28 points, 8 rebounds 2 assists 1 blocks and 1steal; while Sandrine Ayangma was the top performer for the Equity Bank Hawks with 12 points, 8 rebounds 3 Assists and 1block.
Up next for Nigeria Customs is a potentially explosive fixture that will see them slug it out with Kenya’s Equity Bank Hawks in the play-off for 5th and 6th positions.
In the first classification match for positions 5th to 8th, Equity Bank Hawks of Kenya defeated Université de Douala of Cameroun 71-45, winning all four periods in the process; 11-18, 12-19, 11-17 and 11-17.
The result means Université de Douala of Cameroun will take to the court tomorrow morning, for their last fixture, a classification game for 7th and 8th, against their compatriots, Overdose Up Station.
