by Sande Bashaija
Fort Portal
Basketball (boys)
Kibubi 48-55 Kamusinga
Kamenga 80-71 Maseno
Girls
Nabisunsa 65-88 Shimba
Langata 60-41 Tigoi
Netball semis (Girls)
Kitende 8-27 Shimba
Gombe 59-22 Langata
In basketball, its all about height and skill. But at times skill alone may not be good enough to win a game.
That’s the lesson Ugandan sides have learnt in the Century Bottling Company Limited-sponsored East Africa Secondary Schools championship. Nabisunsa girls exhibited stupendous skills on court, so did Kibuli boys, but limitation in height put paid to their efforts.
Nabisunsa’s efforts were good enough for a slot in the semifinals but that’s the furthest they could go.
Against Kenya’s Langata, the Ugandan representatives huffed and puffed with limited success. Dominated both on offensive and defensive rebounds, Nabisunsa lost 41-60 and everyone acknowledged they would have done better with taller players at the post. “ Generally our game has improved but we need to get tall players on board. If not, we shall continue struggling in regional tournaments,” Edmund Lumu, the basketball commissioner at this tournament, noted.
“It’s also unfortunate that the few tall players we have are lazy while others out there are not interested in playing.” Kibuli needed one victory to advance to the semifinals but were equally dwarfed in size when they came up against Kenya’s Kamusinga. The Ugandans looked by far the better side but succumbed to a 48-55 loss, following their female counterparts through the exit door. Crane High School (boys) were also eliminated.