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Ugandan basketball continues to suffer with the problem of size. Whether it is the men’s side Silverbacks or the women’s team Gazelles, size is a big issue.
And that was evident in the Gazelles’ opening game of the Fiba Women’s Zone V AfroBasket Qualifiers Tuesday night at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium.
Hope Akello, Maria Najjuma, Sarah Ageno, Bridget Aber are the bigs in the Gazelles squad. Akello and Najjuma started for Uganda against the Zone V champions and it was the neighbours that won the physical battle inside the paint.
Kenya head coach George Mayienga relied on forward Mercy Wanyama, Madina Okot and Christine Akinyi to dominate the paint and leave Uganda with no answers.
Kenya picked 27 offensive rebounds compared to Uganda’s 14 and got 21 second chance points. They scored 30 of their 61 points inside the paint while Uganda only had 20.
Akello and Najjuma were Uganda’s top rebounders with nine apiece. Aber and Ageno were limited to just 2.23 and 3.28 minutes respectively.
Meanwhile Okot grabbed a whooping 20 rebounds for Kenya, Akinyi and Wanyama got 12 and nine respectively as Mayienga’s charges won the rebounding battle 69-56 and the game 61-53 to start the tournament on a high.
Spain-based Wanyama scored a game-high 15 points, Akinyi had 14 while Okot added eight.
The Ugandans attempted to stage a late come back in the third quarter, with Janon Otto and Brenda Ekone combining to cut the lead to just one point at 43-42 but Melissa Otieno hit two big threes for Kenya to regain their scoring touch and and pull away at the beginning of the fourth frame.
Uganda will have no time to mourn the loss, Egypt lie in wait on Wednesday and defeat could see the hosts out of contention.
In Raneem Elgedawy, Egypt have another big Uganda must be weary of. She scored 23 points and collected five rebounds against South Sudan in Egypt’s 83-68 win over South Sudan on Tuesday.
She was eight of 14 from inside and can also shoot the ball from outside.
Whichever way you look at it, Uganda’s problems start from the fact that it is a small team compared to the rest of the field.
A quick transition offense that head coach Alberto Antuna preaches has to start with rebounding the ball and finding outlets and that cannot happen if the opponent is dominating the boards.
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