One of the most trumpeted match up in the Quarter of the FUBA Div 1 has so far lived up to its billing after a roller-coaster game 1 in the quarter finals.

The two youngest teams (player ages) in the division, Kibuli S.S and Watoto gave us a game 1 to remember and game 2 promises to be more tense.

The two teams have some of the youngest prospects with Kibuli having the U16 Junior Gazelles Captain Husnah Abubaker and Shiphrah Kiranda while Watoto have a star in the making, in Mia Belinda Alaba.

The battle was to be decided by those 3 players and their presence and absence on the floor affected either team significantly as they were the orchestrators for my their respective sides.

Kibuli S.S was super dominant in the first half gaining a 19 point lead to end the second quarter. The shots weren’t falling for Watoto whereas for Kibuli, everything just seemed to be plain sailing. Watoto seemed to have no answer for the towering Shiphrah Kiranda and in the second quarter alone, she dropped 13 points.

Things however took a turn in the third quarter as Watoto came out gun blazing.

Kibuli made their first Field Goal after 6 minutes in the first quarter and Watoto had made a 17:3 run to make a 5 point game.

The remaining 4 minutes were highly contested, 10:9 for Watoto but Kibuli still had the lead to close the quarter.

Things went from bad to worse for Kibuli as Watoto kept pounding them and they took the lead after 1:15 in the fourth quarter.

Watoto never looked back and they kept punishing Kibuli whose spirits seemed to have disappeared midway through the game.

Catherine Agenorwot made a nuisance of herself dropping 9 in the fourth quarter.

After being tightly marked all game, Mia Belinda also went to work making 8 of her 14 points in the final quarter.

Match Stats

Catherine Agenorwot 22pts, 4 rebs, 2 ast, 3 stls

Linda Akullu 16 pts, 9 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl

Stellah Nabakka 12 pts, 7 reb, 1 ast,

Mia Belinda 14 pts, 5 rebs, 3 ast, 4 stl, 1 blk

Twinomujuni Deborah 9 pts, 3 rebs, 4 ast,

Shiphrah Kiranda 21 pts, 10 reb, 4 ast,

Sylvia Namuddu 8 pts, 2 rebs, 1 ast

Rebecca Namatovu 8 pts, 5 rebs, 2 ast

Kibuli struggled a lot when their star players were not on the floor. Husnah Namagembe Abubaker brings composure and control on the game for Kibuli and despite having many turnovers, her team was +1 while she was on the floor. She however fouled out and missed most of the fourth quarter thus the battering.

When Watoto deployed the full court and man to man defense in the second half, Kibuli couldn’t cope up thus the turnovers.

The Kibuli Players also looked to have become tired during the second half and their energies lacked a lot.

Game 2 shall be yet another interesting one and we shall see how both teams will be able to adjust after game 1.