They say “shooters shoot” and it is exactly what happened as the UCU Lady Canons defeated the Lady Jaguars 71-62 to maintain their second round unbeaten run.

The Lady Canons scored 3 3-point shots in clutch time to and they did so with a lot of efficiency.

Coming into this game, the UCU Lady Canons had been unbeaten in the second round with big wins against the JKL Lady Dolphins and the KCCA Leopards.

They had an opportunity to slay another ‘title contender’ but it was not going to be an easy task for them.

The Lady Canons took the first quarter, 20-15, scoring 3 triples.

On the other hand, the Lady Jaguars failed to land one in their 6 attempts but scored  in the paint from second chances and points from turnovers.

The Lady Jaguars started to played very hard on the perimeter, making it tough for the Lady Canons to get off 3-point shots.

In the second quarter, UCU attempted only 5 shots from the 3-point line and did not score any.

Martina Anyango caused a lot of havoc for JT and they couldn’t stop her.

In 8 minutes in the second quarter, she scored 8 points and picked 4 rebounds.

Contrary to the first quarter, the JT Lady Jaguars became hot from the 3-point line.

Shakirah Nanvubya scored back-to-back halfway through the game while Aziida closed the quarter with 2 of her own, one on the buzzer.

At the halftime break, the UCU Lady Canons led the game 36-31 and it was shaping up for a dramatic second half.

The JT Lady Jaguars decided to apply a lot of pressure on the guards in the third quarter.

The tactic was working very well because UCU made a lot of turnovers and the Jaguars capitalized to a degree.

On their first 4 possessions, UCU turned the ball over and the Jaguars scored 4 points as a result.

Halfway through the game, there was another spell were the Lady Jaguars punished the Lady Canons.

UCU made turnovers on 3 consecutive possessions and Maimuna Nabbosa and Shakirah Nanvubya scored huge threes plus a Mercy Batamuliza lay up and just like that, the Jaguars had a 4 point lead.

The Lady Canons did not stop fighting and one key moment that contributed heavily to the eventual outcome happened at the end of the quarter.

With less than 10 seconds to play, Sylivia Nantongo scored a huge basket after a hustle play. A few seconds later, Igiraneza got a steal and scored a layup. This gave UCU the lead, 51-49, at the end of the third quarter.

UCU led by 6 in 2 minutes into the fourth but were scoreless for thre next 4 minutes.

The JT Lady Jaguars pressure was still in effect and UCU made 5 turnovers which resulted in 7 points for the Jaguars.

The Jaguars led by 5 with about 4 minutes to play but Coach Nicholas Natuhereza had a plan and it worked out.

Coach Nick was looking to generate shots and had 4 guards on the floor.

In a space of 40 seconds, Shillah Lamunu and Hajara Najjuko fired 2 huge 3-point shots to give UCU the lead.

Sylivia Nantongo was reintroduced to try and help on the rebounding situation and she scored in transition to give UCU a 3-point lead.

Shortly after, the Lady Canons mad3 another stop and Shillah Lamunu was fouled as she took a 3-point shot on offense.

She made all the 3 free throws but a few seconds later, Maimuna breathed life into the Lady Jaguars with a midrange jumper.

Millicent Otieno scored the dagger from the 3-point shot as she gave UCU a 7-point lead with less than 70 seconds to play.

There was a bit of sloppiness in this game and it could have gone either in the fourth.

The Lady Jaguars and Lady Canons missed a lot of baskets around the rim, and even in transition and Jaguars will be looking back and saying, what it.

Match Stats

UCU Lady Canons

Martina Anyango 18 pts, 13 reb

Shillah Lamunu 11 pts, 16 reb, 2 ast, 2 stl, 1 blk

Sylivia Nantongo 10 pts, 9 reb, 2 ast

JT Lady Jaguars

Shakirah Nanvubya 13 pts, 2 reb

Mercy Batamuliza 13 pts, 14 reb, 1 ast, 2 stl

Maimuna Nabbosa 13 pts

Rhoda Nagitta 10 pts, 8 reb, 8 ast, 4 stl

What does this result mean?

The UCU Lady Canons, having lost to all the top 3 teams in the first round, have turned themselves around.

Theu have won against all the ‘title contenders’ and might end the second round with a perfect 9/9 record, their only fault being the walkover against Angels.

This also means that, if you counted out the UCU, you better count them in.

The Lady Canons will mostly likely finish as number 4 and will probably face the number one seed in the playoffs.

That would make a very interesting semifinals as the number one seed could be shocked.

For the Lady Jaguars, finishing as the number one seed is now far from what it was at the start of the second round.

They have lost 3 games already, all coming against the other title challengers.

However all this may not matter much because of the break between the end of the regular season and the playoffs.

Teams have to reset and prepare adequately during that time as it will be were the title winners could be decided.