Fiba-Africa Women Club Championships Primero 81-57 APRDesportivo 79-63 DjolibaFirst Bank 51-44 KPA ABC vs CSA (were still in action by press time) APR’s charming campaign in the 14th Fiba-Africa women Club Championship in Kenya came to an end on Thursday after falling to Primero de Agosto 81-54 in the quarter-finals. Despite a weak performance in the first quarter (15-30), APR’s coach Kavedzija Veceslav had a lot to smile about when his first timers narrowed down the court to frustrate their more experienced opponents. APR still trailed in the second and third quarter (13-19) and (19-11) before finally giving a good account of themselves with a hard fought 15-13 fourth quarter victory. The Rwandan giants covered every face of the court battling last year’s semi-finalists basket for basket much to the delight of Kavedzija who also doubles as head coach for the national men’s basketball team. APR’s Purity Auma scored 12 points while Blandine Ndaya collected 10. Milicente Ostrida led Agosto with game high 18 points. In the other quarter-final ties, defending champions Desportivo and First Bank joined Primero in the semi-finals after tough games against Djoliba and KPA respectively. The champions got off to a compelling start with a 40-31 lead at the interval but the fierce duel was broken open when Djoliba of Mali took over in the third quarter despite a tie at 17-17. Djoliba threw down everything and had two huge three pointers but Desportivo refused to panic and they recovered brightly to win the show-79-63. In the other clash, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) hopes for a semi-final berth were dashed when they crumbled to a 44-51 defeat against First Bank of Nigeria. In classification games, Kenya’s Eagle Wings and Radi picked up wins in the race to finish inside the top ten. The Kenyans defeated Victoria 49-37 while Radi crushed Uganda’s KCC 93-60. Ends
