Champs on 2nd attempt
Dec 09, 2008
“I always knew they were good enough to win the championship,†said UCU Lady Canons coach Robert Mugabe last Friday night.<br>
By Charles Mutebi
“I always knew they were good enough to win the championship,†said UCU Lady Canons coach Robert Mugabe last Friday night.
He had just seen his troops become national champions after overturning a seven-point third quarter deficit to beat A1 Challenge 59-55 in Game 5 of the women’s basketball play-off finals at Lugogo.
“Maybe some people thought the team was not good enough but I always believed in the players,†Mugabe added.
With title in hand, Mugabe could have said he was sure the Canons would be champions and no one would be able to disprove him.
After all, last year his team had troubled eventual champions KCC Leopards in the semi-finals when their first appearance in the play-offs was expected to be a thrashing harvest.
Yet when the Canons made it to the 2008 finals alongside A1, the only side to have defeated them in the second round, many felt they would be edged out if not overpowered.
In the end both predictions were to be proven wrong by a Canons’ side unwilling to show A1’s perceived infallibility much respect.
A1 swaggered through the regular season and were on the verge of going through unbeaten before succumbing to surprise losses to the Leopards and KIU Rangers in their last two games.
KIU coach Nimrod Kaboha said that his team’s 53-52 win over A1 revealed a major chink in the armour of the 2005 champions.
“When we played them, I saw that they could crack under pressure,†he said.
And true to Kaboha’s claim, soon as the Canons closed the seven point deficit in the final game, A1 collapsed, making a host of turnovers and mistimed shots –– all with seven minutes to play.
Yet while A1 was unravelling the Canons had the composure to shoot 10 from the line.
That they had that composure is no accident for in Flavia Oketcho and Francis Nabulobi, the Canons had two players who had already won multiple championships with the Lady Bucks.
In Oketcho particularly, the Canons don’t only have the MVP elect but local basketball’s human portrait of self-assuredness. It’s not surprising therefore that the 2006 MVP, who’s finished the playoffs as top-scorer with 93 points, said there was only going to be one winner.
“We were sure we would win,†she began. “We had worked so hard and prayed so hard saying ‘God you have to give us this title’.â€
Oketcho added that although A1 were tough competitors and could have won the championship on a better day, it’s the Canons who deserved to be champions.
Certainly the Canons are worthy winners and a further look at the scorers chart proves it.
After Oketcho, Nabulobi is second highest scorer with 88 points, followed by teammate Lorraine Akinyi with 74 then A1’s Liz Kizza and Olivia Mulwana with 68 and 66 respectively. After that, two other UCU players, Cilia Asila and Brenda Mboni follow with 54 and 46 points respectively.
Those statistics need no further elaboration except perhaps the mention that they were the reason behind the making of a new ladies champion –– one who’s become thus just two years into her existence. Wow!
“I always knew they were good enough to win the championship,†said UCU Lady Canons coach Robert Mugabe last Friday night.
He had just seen his troops become national champions after overturning a seven-point third quarter deficit to beat A1 Challenge 59-55 in Game 5 of the women’s basketball play-off finals at Lugogo.
“Maybe some people thought the team was not good enough but I always believed in the players,†Mugabe added.
With title in hand, Mugabe could have said he was sure the Canons would be champions and no one would be able to disprove him.
After all, last year his team had troubled eventual champions KCC Leopards in the semi-finals when their first appearance in the play-offs was expected to be a thrashing harvest.
Yet when the Canons made it to the 2008 finals alongside A1, the only side to have defeated them in the second round, many felt they would be edged out if not overpowered.
In the end both predictions were to be proven wrong by a Canons’ side unwilling to show A1’s perceived infallibility much respect.
A1 swaggered through the regular season and were on the verge of going through unbeaten before succumbing to surprise losses to the Leopards and KIU Rangers in their last two games.
KIU coach Nimrod Kaboha said that his team’s 53-52 win over A1 revealed a major chink in the armour of the 2005 champions.
“When we played them, I saw that they could crack under pressure,†he said.
And true to Kaboha’s claim, soon as the Canons closed the seven point deficit in the final game, A1 collapsed, making a host of turnovers and mistimed shots –– all with seven minutes to play.
Yet while A1 was unravelling the Canons had the composure to shoot 10 from the line.
That they had that composure is no accident for in Flavia Oketcho and Francis Nabulobi, the Canons had two players who had already won multiple championships with the Lady Bucks.
In Oketcho particularly, the Canons don’t only have the MVP elect but local basketball’s human portrait of self-assuredness. It’s not surprising therefore that the 2006 MVP, who’s finished the playoffs as top-scorer with 93 points, said there was only going to be one winner.
“We were sure we would win,†she began. “We had worked so hard and prayed so hard saying ‘God you have to give us this title’.â€
Oketcho added that although A1 were tough competitors and could have won the championship on a better day, it’s the Canons who deserved to be champions.
Certainly the Canons are worthy winners and a further look at the scorers chart proves it.
After Oketcho, Nabulobi is second highest scorer with 88 points, followed by teammate Lorraine Akinyi with 74 then A1’s Liz Kizza and Olivia Mulwana with 68 and 66 respectively. After that, two other UCU players, Cilia Asila and Brenda Mboni follow with 54 and 46 points respectively.
Those statistics need no further elaboration except perhaps the mention that they were the reason behind the making of a new ladies champion –– one who’s become thus just two years into her existence. Wow!