Wednesday, April 6
•JKL Lady Dolphins 84-37 Nkumba Lady Marines
•KIU Rangers 67-68 UCU Lady Canons (Overtime)
Friday, April 8
•Victoria University Vs Our Saviour – 6:30pm
•UPDF Tomahawks Vs UCU Canons – 8:30pm
UCU Lady Canons recovered from a poor start to overcome a resilient KIU Rangers in overtime in a pulsating Tusker-lite sponsored NBL game at Lugogo Indoor Arena.
KIU who led by a lofty 22 points in the first quarter, needed Sharon Kirabo’s clutch three-pointer to send the game in overtime where the Lady Canons showed grit down the stretch to hand Rangers their first loss of the season.
Rose Akon, who drilled in a game winning shot late on, finished the day with a record 26 rebounds and added 19 points to complete her double double.
Kirabo contributed 20 points and Uwineza Ninette managed a season high 10 assists as KIU Rangers died fighting.
The night, where both teams were cheered up by a sizeable crowd, lived beyond expectations despite a few contestable officiating decisions.
Both teams are now on 4-1 (four wins and one loss) and return to action on Sunday with UCU facing Magic Stormers while KIU have Miracle Ravens at Lugogo.
How the Drama Unfolded
Prior to the match, KIU Rangers coach Roger’s Seerunyigo had told The-SportsNation that he is aware of UCU threat.
And his side took the bull by its horn when they exploded in the first quarter thanks to strong showings from Kirabo, Patricia Nakiru and Ines Kanyamunza to lead 30-8.
It is rare to see a team scoring 30 points in the opening quarter in Ugandan basketball, more so in the Women division.
But Rangers did it with ease, with Ines decorating the scoreline with a step back three that garnered a standing ovation.
However, KIU went cold in the second quarter, missing 13 three-point shots as UCU knitted a 17-4 run to cut the deficit to just eight points going into the long break.
UCU continued with a flurry of drives and neat passing in the third which ended trailing 47-44 to claw it’s way back into the contest.
After early exchanges to open up the fourth, Akon laid up to tie the game 48-48 with 08:56 on the clock.
And UCU were on course to complete a comeback win when they came up with another 13-3 run, with great display from their bench, to open up a 10-point gap with four minutes remaining.
But they let Rangers get their way into the match when it looked impossible with Kirabo scoring subsequent points to reduce the difference to six points with less than a minute.
Tricky point guard Namuleme Fildauce laid up with 16 seconds to go as Rangers moved to within four points. Hajjara Najuko sent Uwineza on the line but she made just one of her two freethrows to trail by three, and UCU Coach Nicholas Natuhereza called for a timeout with 10 seconds to go.
Malaria time!
UCU turned over the ball! Kirabo surged forward as the clock faded, before burying a near-buzzer three for the crowd, including FUBA President who doubles as the KIU President, to go into wild celebrations.
Overtime!
The opening minutes of the overtime period saw teams go to the charity line more often, but Ines’ two-point jumper was cancelled by a rare three-pointer pull up from Akon to hand UCU a slender 68-67 lead with 1:25 to spare.
Ninette and Ines missed desperate hookshots before the later’s would-be game winning three-pointer only found the glass.
