KPA edge Equity in Game One

Kenya Ports Authority women yesterday beat Equity Bank 62-43 in Game One of the best-of-five Kenya Basketball Federation Premier League play-offs final at KPA Makande Gymnasium in Mombasa on Saturday.

The thrilling clash that lasted two hours saw visiting Equity Bank fail to impress in the first three quarters. However, the bankers fought gallantly to win the last quarter.

The game saw KPA, cheered on by the home crowd, take the first and second quarters 18-5 and 18-8 respectively to lead 36-13 before the break.

Nairobi-based Equity, coached by David Maina, dictated terms in the third quarter but KPA again bounced back to lead 17-12.

Equity were in complete command in the last quarter which they won 18-9 win against the the dockers.

Equity Bank’s Hilda Indasi led the scores with 16 points to her credit, while Mercy Wanyama scored 10 points for KPA and Betty Kimani scored another 12 points. Ivonne Akinyi also stood out for KPA, scoring nine points in the match.

KPA coach, Anthony Ojukwu said he was very happy with the victory but remained cautiously optimistic of winning Game Two against the bankers today at the same venue.

“We are going all out to make sure we win our second straight match. If we win on Sunday, we will have a better opportunity to win the title because we will not allow our opponents to win three matches in Nairobi next weekend,” said Ojukwu.  

KPA Sports Officer, Enock Safari said they are looking forward to winning all the five matches with wins.

“We have never been beaten this season and we want to complete the league with an unbeaten record,” said Safari.

Equity Bank coach David Maina refused to comment about the outcome of their game and went straight to where his players were and start lecturing them.