UCU Lady Canons limit JKL to their lowest score this season to claim Game One

The UCU Lady Canons limited the JKL Lady Dolphins to their lowest score this season and claimed game one of the semifinals series.

October 3, 2025

4–6 minutes

Jkl Lady Dolphins, National Basketball League, NBL 25, UCU Lady Canons

It is very hard to remember the last time the JKL Lady Dolphins scored less than 50 points in a game.

However, the UCU Lady Canons limited them to just 46 points and less than 20 field goals scored in game one of the semifinals.

The Lady Canons won the game 57-46 to claim game one and take a 1-0 lead in a best of 5 series.

One of the things which was highly anticipated ahead of this game was how the 2 teams would set up.

To the surprise of many, the Lady Dolphins started the game with a press and this costed them heavily.

The press worked on a few instances but it did more harm than good.

JKL collected 9 fouls in the first quarter with Hope Akello having 2.

On the flip side, Martina Anyango, who had been tasked with stopping Akello also got 2 personal fouls and was also charged with a technical foul.

One could say the equation was balanced out but the absence of Hope Akello on the floor greatly hurt the Lady Dolphins.

By the end of the first quarter, the Lady Canons led the game 14-9.

The recklessness exhibited by UCU in the first minutes of the second quarter was worrying.

JKL put a half court man-to-man and the Lady Canons kept turning over the ball.

They had 8 turnovers in the first 5 minutes of the second quarter.

Luckily for them, JKL scored only 8 points in that time and also made some turnovers of their own.

Shillah Lamunu and Sylivia Nakituuka each scored a big 3 for the Lady Canons to keep them in the game.

This quarter was also a disappointment for JKL because they left so many points on the free throw line.

They missed 6 of their 10 attempts from the free throw line.

At the halftime break, the game was tied 25-25.

The game broke open in the first minutes of the third quarter.

UCU managed to score on the fast break and in less than 2 minutes, they had taken a 7-point lead.

Ritah Imanishimwe sunk back-to-back triples but Hajara Najjuko responded with her second in the quarter to make it a 6-point game.

There were a lot of misses from both teams but the Lady Canons got some more baskets on the fast break and they led by as many as 11 points with under 2 minutes left.

JKL scored the final 2 baskets to make it a 7-point game with the final quarter left to play.

Hope Akello went to work, scoring her first 3 attempts to start the fourth quarter but UCU always had a response.

In the final 5 minutes, JKL scored just 2 points while UCU had 6 to win the game 57-46.

The Lady Dolphins made rushed shots in the final minutes and it is not surprising that none of them got to sink.

Some of the game changers were Zoe Atek and Bridget Aber.

Atek was like a pressure release as she had a lot of composure on the ball and seemed unfazed by the pressure.

Aber came in and was a presence on the floor defensively. She set hard screens and a couple of times, the JKL players came running into her.

Both teams have a lot of players who can change games and we shall be waiting to see how the teams line up for game 2 and who can step up from the bench.

Coach and Player Remarks

UCU Lady Canons Guard Shillah Lamunu shared how the game was for her and how they managed to break the press for the JKL Lady Dolphins.

“The game was tough. Everybody brought a lot of energy and both teams wanted to win. It boiled down to who wanted it more”

“We tried to limit our turnovers to get back in the game because everyone we turned over, they were running at us”

“If a team is pressing you, the best thing you can do is calm down. You can’t go at their pace because if you do, they will run at you all day. So we tried to keep calm, pass the ball and do the easy things.”

The UCU Lady Canons Head Coach Nicholas Natuhereza also shared his thoughts on the game.

“For us, we weren’t looking at one or two players taking care of the basketball. We wanted everyone included and we closed the game in that manner, passing the ball around so that we don’t put a lot of load on Shillah [Lamunu] given that she’s our only pure point guard with some experience” he commented on having multiple players getting involved in the game.

“Any time you hold a team under 50 points, you have done well defensively” Coach Nick on his team’s defense on the night.

“There are players on that team that we don’t want [for them] to catch and shoot the ball when in rhythm. Some of the shots they took down the stretch were rushed and that is how we want them to shoot.”

About what winning game one means, he had this to say.

“From a standpoint of a series, you don’t get too excited. We have to take one game at a time and our focus will be on the next game, so that we correct the things we didn’t do well.”