Zimbabwe women met Zambia for their second game against each other in the tournament. The first time these two teams met, it was a massacre for the Zimbabwean team as they marched over a Zambian team that could not seem to get the ball into the basket.
Fast forward to the second game between these two teams – going into the game, it was almost obvious that the Zimbabwean team would dominate like they did in the first game, right? Wrong? Zambia started the game and outhustled, outran and outscored the Zimbabwean team 19-14 in the first quarter. That’s more points than they scored in the entire first half in the first game between these teams. The Zimbabwean team was playing their reserves most of the game – none of the usual starters played more than 10 minutes.
In the second quarter, after a well deserved tongue lashing from their coach, Zimbabwe returned with purpose and scored 27 points in the period, with Zambia only managing 7. But then a lacklustre offensive showing slowed them down again in the third quarter as Zambia was double teaming the point guard up top, forcing turnovers and getting fast break baskets.
Zimbabwe was having trouble containing P Mbale (15), who caused problems for them in the first game also. M Wakumelo (5) also scored 4 out of 6 attempts from beyond the arc en route to a team high 12 points for Zambia. Both teams scored 13 apiece in the third period and Zimbabwe had a 15 point lead heading into the fourth quarter.
Zambia seemed to then run out of gas in this one and Zimbabwe won it 74 – 51. The player of the game was Ethel Luta(15 Zimbabwe), who got a double – double with 10 points and 12 rebounds, after not playing at all in their last game against South Africa.
Top performers:
P Mbale (15 Zambia) – 10 points
M Wakumelo (5 Zambia) – 12 points
Ethel Luta (15 Zimbabwe) – 10 points, 12 rebounds, 3 assists
Isobel Tengende (13 Zimbabwe) – 9 points in 8 minutes of action.
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