FUBA announced the 12 woman gazzelles squad that will play for Uganda and its safe to say there’s weren’t any major surprises.

The squad involves 7 international based players of the 9 who had been summoned and 5 local based players all who represented the team in the Afrobasket qualifiers earlier this year.

The biggest surprise though was the dropping of JT Lady Jaguars’ Sarah Ageno who has been arguably the MVP in National Basketball League this season. However, an argument can be made that Sarah has not been in the National team setup, and also her position has a lot of competition and so it was surely a tough decision by the Coach.

All the 5 local based players are teammates in the JKL Dolphins and they fit perfectly with team chemistry and experience given that they have played together over the years.

Veteran Point Guard, Flavia Oketcho will lead the team yet again on this Voyage and with the 15+ years experience she boosts, she’ll be expected to bring leadership and composure and hoping get her hands on her first major international title.

Evelyn Nakiyinji, Ritah Imanishimwe, Hope Akello and Ekone Brenda will be expected to offer something different “the Uganda way”, if that exists.

Ekone is very unorthodox, in that she injects alot of pace and can attack the rim all day.

Ritah, in the shooting guard position should be able to bury a couple of 3 point shots, and also make the Zonal defense of the opponents vulnerable.

Hope Akello is versatile and having grown through the ranks over the years, she knows her way around the court in that she can pick rebounds, get assists and also try a couple of shots.

The 7 foreign based players include, Lydia Babirye, Priscilla Abby, Janon Otto, Jane Asinde, Melissa Akullo, Claire Lamunu and Maria Najjuma.

The most anticipated player for the Gazelles is Jane Asinde who is currently in Canada for the GLOBAL JAM, playing with BAL Select team.

Janon Otto has already showed the Ugandan fan base what she’s bringing to the table. During the Zone V qualifiers, she was the spark for the gazzelles in there run to the finals.

Akullo Melissa is currently at Vanguard University, California and she averaged a 18.5 pts & 12.2 rebs double double in the last season. In the same season, she was named player of the year and defensive player of the year. She previously played for Angels Basketball Club 2017-2020 from where she was spotted and then made the move to the US.

Mellisa’s defensive prowess is known all-over and her offense is impeccable. She brings experience, and better understanding of the game to the team.

Having played at the zone V qualifiers, Maria Najjuma’s abilities needs not be reminded. She was a force for the Gazzelles, getting over 10 PPG and topping it with 10+ points.

Guard Lydia Babirye is another that needs no introduction. She’s at Evangel University in Missouri and in her sernior year, she averaged 16.1 PPG. She already represented the country in the U 16 and in 2018, she participated in Giants of Africa where she was spotted.

Claire Lumunu boasts of international experience and she’s one of the most decorated players in Ugandan Basketball. She’s also the first female basketball player to play professionally.

She played in Portugal for a year and she was received multiple accolades including player of the year, center of the year, new Comer of the the year and import player of the year. She’s also played in Finland for 2 years where she was a force to reckon.

She represented the Country in 2014 Zone V qualifiers where the Gazzelles made it to the Afrobasket and she was the MVP of the tournament and top scorer. With all this and so much more, her presence gives the team boost and she will definitely be among the players to watch out for.

Priscilla Abby is another interesting character currently playing for Grayson College in Texas. She primarily plays as a forward but her versatility makes her a gem for the Country. She’s already represented the Country in 2019 at the Zone V games and she’s definitely no stranger to the international scene.