Ulinzi, Storms seal semi-final berths

Ulinzi Warriors and Storms became the first teams to qualify for the Kenya Basketball Federation Premier League playoffs semi-finals after winning their Game Two matches against Umoja and Eagle Wings respectively the Nyayo National Stadium Gymnasium on Saturday.

The Soldiers, who finished second in the regular season, qualified for the semis on a 2-0 basis having beaten Umoja 56-34 in Game One of the best-of-three series quarter-final last weekend.

Ulinzi Warriors will now meet the winner between Equity Bank and Thunder in the best-of-five series semi-final. Thunder are leading the series 1-0 after winning Game One 70-59 last weekend. Game Two is scheduled for Sunday at the USIU-A Outdoor Courts.

William Balozi's charges, who are seeking their eighth title, had dangerous guard Eric Mutoro scoring nine points early on including two superb three pointers. Experienced forward William Ochieng' added eight points with superstar John Washika also contributing effectively.

Umoja, who needed to win Game Two at all cost to lock the series 1-1, trailed 26-11 at end of first quarter and 46-21 at the break.

The seven-time champions proved their might comfortably winning 17-13 and 22-13 in the third and final quarter respectively. Ochieng' topped Ulinzi's scoring chart with 19 points, Mutoro had 11, Joshua Okumu shot 14 while guard Ben Mfutu finished the game with 10.

Ulinzi coach Balozi said: "Everything worked for us to win with a big margin and we have planned to start training hard for the semi-finals by next week."

In the women's Premier League quarter-final Game Two, Storms sailed into the semi-finals with an easy 2-0 sweep after beating Eagle Wings 80-58.

Storms, a team to watch this year, made a flying start with a 59-40 victory in Game One last weekend. Eagles Wings showed they were determined to force the quarter-final to Game Three with a spirited fight in the first quarter which ended 16-14 in favour of Storms who stretched their lead to 38-30 at half-time. Melisa Akinyi scored 24 points, Rebecca Nkatha 20 and Mercy Wanyama 15 to thwart any hopes of a comeback from Eagle Wings.

Eagles Wings coach Everline Kedogo was proud of her girls despite the loss: "Its a plus to reach the playoffs considering the challenges we face as a self-supporting team. We had not adequately trained as a team because my key players prefer to play netball where they are paid allowances."

In other women's Premier League matches, Fiba-Africa Zone V club champions Equity Bank strolled to a 93-32 win over USIU-A Flames in quarter-final Game One. Flames, under new coach Cliff Owuo, had no answer from the start trailing in all the four quarters. Star Susan Akinyi and Belinda Okoth each hit 17 points for Equity, who were leading 54-17 at half-time.

Coach Ronnie Owino's Strathmore University Swords went up 1-0 after registering a narrow 52-50 win over Zetech University in quarter-final Game One. Swords had squeezed a slim 28-27 lead at half-time. Zetech were unlucky to lose having won the last quarter 10-9.

SUMMARIZED RESULTS:

Ulinzi Warriors 85 Umoja 48, Storms 80 Eagle Wings 58, Strathmore University Swords 52 Zetech University 50, Equity Bank 93 USIU-A Flames 32.