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One of the debutants, Jannon Otto, a naturalised player from USA, led Uganda’s offensive charge in the opening game as the hosts fell 61-53 to neighbours Kenya Tuesday night.
Of the 12 Uganda Gazelles players taking part in the Fiba Women’s Zone V AfroBasket Qualifiers, seven are debutants. This means that only five have been in action of the Uganda senior team before.
Team captain Flavia Oketcho, shooting guards Ritah Imanishimwe and Brenda Ekone as well as bigs Hope Akello and Sarah Ageno are the five players with prior experience of playing at this level.
Head coach Alberto Antuna, who is also managing the team for the very first time, has to rely on some of the new faces on the team to help the Gazelles qualify for this year’s AfroBasket in Kigali, Rwanda.
Jannon Otto
One of the debutants, Jannon Otto, a naturalised player from USA, led Uganda’s offensive charge in the opening game as the hosts fell 61-53 to neighbours Kenya Tuesday night.
The Luxemburg based small forward only had one training session with the team on the same day of the first game. But she walked straight into Antuna’s team and went on to play 33.44 minutes before limping off injured late in the fourth quarter.
She shot four of 11 from the field and was Uganda’s best player on the day, scoring 11 points and collecting seven rebounds. She struggled to get going from beyond the arc and was zero for four but scored three of her five free throws.
It was clearly a case of not having enough time with her teammates but the signs are good and show that she will be a good addition to the Gazelles set up.
Maria Najjuma
Everyone was excited to see Najjuma make her senior debut. Having dominated the boards at U16 level in 2019, when she averaged 33 rebounds and 24 points in the Fiba Zone V Qualifiers held in Kigali, the centre is expected to be the next big thing in Ugandan basketball.
But her debut could have been better. She struggled to get going against a very physical Kenya side and only managed six points and nine rebounds in 25.56 minutes.
Like Otto, the 19-year-old has barely trained with the Gazelles and only arrived on Sunday. The potential is there for all to see but she will have to play more basketball and have time to train with her teammates.
Evelyne Nakiyingi
The point guard should have made her senior debut already but Covid-19 and financial difficulties for Fuba have seen women’s basketball locked out of action for a while now.
Her debut finally came and it was in defeat. The two-time National Basketball League champion came off the bench and got 17.60 minutes on the floor.
She contributed five points, two rebounds and six assists in Uganda’s opening day loss.
Her calmness under pressure is unmatched and she looks like she will be on the team for a while.
The rest
Youngster Shilla Lamunu, Leticia Awor and Bridget Aber got 2.59, 2.36 and 3.28 respectively but struggled to impress. Antuna got them out of his rotation for majority of the game.
Lamunu and Awor picked one rebound each while Aber left the floor with just a turnover in her stats column.
UCU Lady Canons point guard Shakira Nanvubya was the only Gazelle who didn’t get the chance to step onto the floor.
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