First Bank basketball club of Nigeria Saturday fought a hard battle to see off Interclube basketball club of Angola by 69-65 points after Over-time at the IRSP gymnase, Ouidah, Benin Republic.
The Nigerian side champion in 2003 entered the game as favourite due to her pedigree in the preliminary through the quarter-final stage winning the first quarter by 21-15 points, while the Angolan side came back strongly in the second quarter with a 20-17 points with half-time scores standing at 38-35 points in favour of First Bank.
Interclube continue her charged on the First Bank side at the resumption of play in third quarter winning the quarter by 1°-08 points cut down their deficit to just one points of 46-45 points going into the last quarter which they also won 15-14 points to even scores at 60-60 points to set-up a five-minute over-time.
First Bank falls back to three points play in the over-time which paid off as Rashidat Sadiq and Danielle Green took time to pound Interclube with repeated three points shot to win at 69-65 points.
First Bank Danielle Green led the floor with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists while Adeola Olanrewaju recorded 11 points and 5 rebounds to help their side book a grand finale ticket.
First Bank will now take on the winner of the second semi-final between defending champions, Desportivo basketball club of Mozambique and Abidjan Basket Club of Cote d'Ivoire on Sunday at the Palais des Sports in Cotonou, Benin Republic.