Birungi Mariam led the on-slaught against Makerere Sparks with a game high 13 points.
A1 Challenge return to their intense routine training with optimism after bagging their first 2013/14 season win. Truly testament to the fact that tough times never last.
Having gone 0-3, losing to KCCA Leopards, Magic
Stormers and most recently KIU Rangers, the nuts had to be tightened and
intensity was turned on right from the whistle sound.
As if the win wasn’t enough, A1 guard Nakazibwe
Sylvia stirred up the crowd having come on court with about 6 seconds remaining
in the first quarter only to sink a buzzer beating shot from the centre of the
court, for the play-of-the-day most definitely.
By half time the score was at [38:16] making it easy for Coach Jeff Omondi to
easily rotate the players while resting his starting five. A1 Challenge led
the first, second and fourth quarter to seal the victory.
With their next game against KCCA Leopards on
Sunday, it was important for their confidence that they bagged this win. Having
played decently against KCCA Leopards despite the loss, they will grab on to
this opportunity as a chance to serve the defending champions a taste of their
own medicine and really cold.
However, this is not an easy task to ask. As
lethal as they have to be offensively, defense will win this one if you ask me.
So the question is how tight can they be at the back and how precise are they
going to be when executing offense?
It’s important to note that there were
improvements in the shooting overall as opposed to their previous two games
which is a plus. They averaged 66.7% to 42.9% in the shooting department.
Also defensively, the steals and turnover numbers
were much improved. Against the big opponents, it’s these little details that
make all the difference, as was the case with Rangers [52:54] loss.
Birungi Mariam scored a game high 13 points,
closely assisted by Okot Barbra with 12 and Agnes Nantongo with 11 points.
Sparks side, which is clearly in transition having
lost a number of players in the off season, had Mirembe Susan and Chemutai Joy
score 11points each. In case you were wondering YES this is the Chemutai Joy
formerly of Nabisunsa Girls. Come to think of it the Sparks side recruited
massively from Nabisunsa with players like Joy Chemutai, Ashaba Maggie and Nababuza
Treasure [small guard] all joining from Nabisunsa Girls School.
Makerere Sparks side have to go back to the drawing board and figure out a winning formula seeing that this Friday graces us with an all-university show down between Sparks and Rangers.
A1 Challenge next face KCCA Leopards [2-June-2013]
at Lugogo Indoor Stadium
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