by Sande Bashaija
Wandegeya
Final result
Men
Warriors 47-53 Coop Bank
Women
KCC Leopards 45-67 KPA
Third place play-off
Men
KCB 68-64 KPA
Women
Eagle Wings 49-67
Past Zone 5 winners
Year Men Women
1995 Posta KCB
1996 Coop Lioness
1997 Coop Lioness
1998 Coop Lioness
1999 Cobras Telkom
2000 Falcons Ogopa
2001 Vijana APR
2002 APR KPA
2003 Ulinzi JKT
2004 Postbank Lady Bucks
2005 KCB Storms
2006 KCB KPA
2007 APR KPA
2008 APR KPA
2009 Coop Bank KPA
Warriors continue to be nearly men. The Africa Zone 5 Sprite Championship stopped at their door. They just couldn’t summon enough strength to wrestle it from Cooperative Bank’s hands, losing the final 47-53 at YMCA Wandegeya yesterday. Yet everyone agreed it was Warriors’ perfect opportunity, one that may be too difficult to come by in the near future.
Playing before a fully-packed crowd, Warriors found themselves on the back foot at the end of first quarter 11-17 but exhibited the kind of resilience that has taken them this far to take a 27-23 lead into recess. Their party ended there. The third quarter turned out to be disastrous. Warriors managed a paltry four points while the Kenyans recorded double figures with 15. Brian Gumisiriza (8) looked like the likely hero for Warriors, sinking in double back-to-back three pointers at the beginning of the final session but school boy misses by Martin Okwaku (8) dealt the Ugandans a big blow.
Ronnie Kasewu was the only Warriors player in double figures with 12. Eugene Genga grabbed 15 while Richard Oseno and Bernad Sitati contributed 12 apiece for Cooperative. Despite the disappointment, Warriors emerged Uganda’s best men’s side in the weeklong tournament.
In the women’s final, Flavia Oketcho produced a brilliant individual performance but could not spur Kampala City Council (KCC) Leopards to their maiden Africa Zone 5 Sprite Championship.
The former local league Most Valuable Player (MVP) scored 11 points in the third quarter, nine of them from outside the arc as KCC Leopards tried to overcome a poor start in the final against Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) at YMCA Wandegeya yesterday. KPA had a perfect start, taking a 31-19 lead into recess but Oketcho’s brilliance gave KCC Leopards a short-lived glimmer of hope.
With most of her teammates seemingly out of ideas and resigned to fate, Oketcho grabbed triple back-to-back three pointers, added a lay-up and converted two from the charity line to help her team cut the deficit to 34-38 with two minutes left to the end of third quarter. But several careless mistakes in the dying moments of the session ensured KPA went into fourth quarter leading 45-34.