The women’s Afrobasket Zone V qualifiers tournament in Kigali came to an end with Kenyan women coming out on top to seal their qualification to the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket finals in Yaounde, Cameroon, in September. Times Sport looks at five things that we learned from the just-concluded tournament: Kenya shows their prowess Egypt looked favorites to book a ticket to Cameroon but it’s Kenya who had the last laugh after losing two games in the group stages. The Kenyans had a shy start in the qualifiers as they lost to Rwanda in the opening game but bounced back with a win in their second game against South Sudan before suffering yet another defeat against Egypt by just a point in game three. The narrow defeat left a message that everything was possible in the semi-finals. They beat Rwanda in the semifinals and then Egypt in the final in convincing manner to get revenge against the same teams that beat them during the group stages. Sarr needs to improve Rwanda’s physical mentality Rwanda finishing third in the Zone V qualifiers on home soil isn’t a proud result that the Senegalese tactician and his ladies can firmly celebrate. The hosts started every game the better side but would then surrender in the third or fourth quarter due to lack of physical resistance. Their defeat against Egypt in group stages exposed their weaknesses after finishing the first two quarters with over a ten-point gap, and surprisingly, the Egyptians took advantage of an ‘already tired’ Rwandan side and won the game at 72-59, after Sarr was left with no solution with his entire squad already tired. The performance should be a lesson for the coach and his technical staff to improve their teams’ physicality if they are really preparing a team that can beat the best in Africa in future competitions. Rwanda’s squad lacks balance Cheikh Sarr over relied too much on shooting guard Thierra Henderson plus a few other members of the team like Odille Tetero, Bella Murekatete and Sifa Ineza, but the rest of the players’ performances were below par. The team lacked balance and that cost them during the competition because players who performed well had little support from the bench when tired, hence opponents took advantage of the imbalance to beat them. A balanced squad is what Rwandans expect to see in future tournaments. Thierra Henderson was amazing to watch The national womens basketball team captain played a big role throughout the tournament. The 33-year-old shooting-guard’s 102 points were the most scored by a Rwandan player in the tournament and the spirit and leadership that she exercised on her teammate were key to Rwanda’s results. She was arguably Sarr’s most reliable player who played every quarter of each of the games during the tournament. Prevention of Covid-19 among athletes is important The qualifiers were yet again a kind reminder of how important it is for athletes to take care of themselves so that they don’t test positive for Covid-19. In the six days of the tournament, no player was infected with Covid-19 and the Bubble system saw all four teams that participated in the tournament staying together at Onomo Hotel. Attendance of fans in the Arena were not allowed as the country continues to battle the pandemic which has already forced Rwandans into a third lockdown.
