The U18 Junior Gazelles advanced to the quarter-finals of the 2024 FIBA U18 African Women’s Championship after defeating Nigeria 80-64 in their final pool game.

The Junior Gazelles started the tournament with an 85-36 win against Zimbabwe but they fell short in their next, losing 76:53 to Egypt.

To ensure that they qualified automatically, they had to win their game against Nigeria and they managed to get the job done.

Nigeria started the game well with an 11-1 run in the first 3 minutes. In that time, Uganda missed all their 4 attempts while Nigeria scored 5/6 and collected all the rebounds.

Resty Nanangwe scored a couple of points to slow down the Nigerian but they couldn’t running riot and with 2:29 left in the game, they led 23-7, a 16-point lead.

In the final 2 minutes of the quarter,  Uganda made a 12:00 run to bring the game to within 4 points and finish with the momentum on their side.

Christine Namyalo took over in the squad burying 3 3-point shots and a total 13 points.

With 4 seconds left in the game, Resty Nanangwe made a driving lay up that put Uganda ahead for the first time in the game.

Modesta Anyango and Bushira Namayanja also made a huge impact defensively and offensively for Uganda in the third quarter and Nigeria had no answers.

Uganda took a 9-point lead to close the third stanza and with their defense working very well, it was always going to be a hard task seeing Nigeria comeback in the game.

The Junior Gazelles started the quarter with a 6-0 run to extend their lead to 15 and get firm grip on the game.

Despite attempting to score from distance, Nigeria missed their first 10 3-point shot attempts in the fourth quarter and only managed to make 2/14 in that time.

Uganda, on the other hand, was concentrating on stopping the Nigerians from attacking their inside, and it worked well for them because the few times Nigeria sipped through, they were unable to score.

With the final shot of the game, Resty Nanangwe managed to crown off her incredible performance with her first 3-point shot to cross the 30 point mark.

Talking points

Winning/ Competitive Mentality

During the game against Egypt, the Junior Gazelles trailed by a very big margin but they kept fighting till the end and in this game, it was seen.

With just 1 point and 0 rebounds in the first 3 minutes, the girls did not lose heart and kept playing with the same energy and intent despite being trailing by 10.

The 12-0 run at the end of the first quarter was their reward to all they had done in the first quarter and it set the pace for them to turn the game around.

Defense

Uganda knew that once the ball gets to the bigs, it was going to be very difficult to stop them.

The strategy was to try and suffocate the guards and force turnover which worked very well.

Uganda forced Nigeria into 39 turnovers and they were rewarded with 25 points from turnovers.

Despite Uganda registering 27 turnovers of their own, most of them were a result of bad passes on the fast breaks.

Rebounding

Nigeria had 73 rebounds, 27 more than Uganda’s 46. They had the same number of offensive rebounds that Uganda did have defensively but Shiphrah Kiranda and Melissa Taliba did a great job of making life difficult for Vivian Chiamaka and Abigail Isaac.

Team Performances

Resty Nanangwe once again stepped up for Uganda but Christine Namyalo also came up huge when needed the most offensively.

Modesta Anyango and Adongpiny despite not stuffing the stat sheet were tremendous defensively while Shiphrah Kiranda and Taliba took care of the bigs.

Coach’s Remarks

Coach Jonathan Egau talked about how they prepared for the game, the lessons learnt from the group stages and what a victory against Nigeria means for Uganda.

“It was a needed win for us, we wanted that game so bad and we got it. We tried to prepare well, watched film and we knew that one of the biggest strengths of Nigeria was the bigs rebounding the ball”

“That is a statement win for Uganda as a Nation and it shows that over the years, our grassroots basketball has been improving and beating Nigeria shows how much progress we’ve had over the years”

“We’ve learnt that we can beat anyone in this championship but we have to be prepared and ready to compete”

“We want to go into that game with a winning mentality and a competitive spirit so that we can advance to the semifinals”

Match Stats

Uganda

Resty Nanangwe 31 pts, 10 reb, 4 ast, 2 stl

Christine Namyalo 21 pts, 5 3PM, 1 reb, 3 ast, 3 stl

Modesta Anyango 11 pts, 8 reb, 3 ast

Nigeria

Abigail Isaac 22 reb, 9 pts, 1 ast, 4 stl, 2 blk

Idubamo Beggi 16 pts, 2 reb, 5 ast, 3 stl

Wandoo Marvis 12 pts, 7 reb, 2 ast

Match Facts

Resty Nanangwe is the second player at the tournament to record 30+ points after Kelya Kipo (Cameroon) dropped 33 on South Africa.

It is yet unknown which team Uganda shall face in the quarter-finals but whichever team they face, the confidence of the team is high and seeing them progress wouldn’t be a surprise.