KPA draw first blood against Equity Bank

Kenya Ports Authority drew first blood hitting Equity Bank 67-57 in Game One of their women's Premier League play-offs final at Makande Hall in Mombasa on Wednesday.

The dockers, who are the league defending champions, took a 14-8 first quarter lead that they extended to 36-20 at halftime.

Annrose Mandela, Linet Atieno, Yvonne Akinyi and Helen Oketch were on top of their game, nailing three-point shots at will which the bankers failed to respond to with their stars Seline Okumu, Samba Mjomba, Belinda Okoth and Betty Kananu missing open chances.

Nairobi-based Equity Bank returned in the second half a rejuvenated side outscoring their hosts 27-13 in the third quarter to end the half trailing 45-47.

KPA, however, rebounded strongly in the final quarter with an 18-10 run to see off the match. Game Two is at Makande on Thursday from 4pm.

“We planned well for the game and I am happy we won. We almost lost it in the third quarter when my players lost concentration but we showed fighting spirit in the last quarter which saw us seal it,” said KPA coach Anthony Ojukwu after the match.

His Equity Bank counter part David Maina said they were poor and had no excuse for the loss.

“We played very badly while KPA were on top of their game and you can see the results,” Maina said promising to bounce back.

Seline Okumu scored a game high 21 points while Betty Kananu had 15 for Equity.Annrose Mandela had 20 and Linet Atieno 17 for Kenya Ports Authority.