There is an English phrase that goes, “call a spade a spade, not a big spoon.”

This means that you should call something as it is and in this season, I haven’t seen the Leopards in the KCCA Women’s Basketball Team.

In the last 2 games that they have played against top opposition, they have looked more like big cats rather than Leopards.

As thus, I pose the question. Are KCCA, Leopards or Big Cats?

The KCCA ‘Leopards’ haven’t won a championship since 2014. One can compare them to the Machester United team in the post Ferguson era.

There have been a lot of changes in the coaches, many changes in players and management but still, an NBL Championshiphas eluded them.

The latest coaching stuff to be installed is the pair of seasoned winners (as players) Tonny Drileba and Ben Komakech.

The two have experience in coaching with Ben Komakech having been the leader at Ihoops and attaining success while Drileba has been on the Angels coaching staff, helped Legends and other teams.

However, the job at KCCA has higher demands. The expectation is to win a championship and if you can’t deliver that, you will be like those who have come before you and failed to hit the target.

In 2024, KCCA was looked at as a team that was favorites to go all the way. They had acquired the services of Perus Nyamwenge and Uwineza Ninette who had led the KIU Rangers to a finals the year before.

However, that season was a disappointment as the Leopards were eliminated in the quarter-finals after 2-0 sweep by the JT Lady Jaguars. Additionally, they had very poor performances against the top opposition in the second round.

In 2025, KCCA finished as the number three seed and there was hope that maybe this time they would make a trip to the finals.

Their hopes were broken after the Magic Stormers eliminated them 2-1, despite having won game one of the quarter-finals series.

Over the last couple of years, the KCCA Leopards have suffered. Making it past the quarter-finals has been stumbling block and this time around, they need to break that spell. They need better results.

However, we haven’t seen that yet so far this season more so when playing against the top opposition.

In their opening game of the 2025 NBL season, they defeated the defending champions, the JKL Lady Dolphins 73-65.

Despite the win, only 7 players were available for the Leopards and that was a source of concern.

In the game against the JT Lady Jaguars, they scored an underwhelming 28 points. KCCA had no player in double digit scores and in each of the first 3 quarter, they scored less than 8 points.

A week later, they took on the UCU Lady Canons and had a similar horrible performance. In that game, they scored just 34 points and scored just 10 of 62 field goal attempts.

Those two performances have us questioning, are the Leopards challengers? At the the moment, we haven’t seen that.

When you search for the traits of Leopards, one of them is, they mark their territory. 

For the KCCA Leopards, we believe that their territory is at the top but when they have faced other top opposition, they have shown that they don’t belong at the top. Perhaps their territory is mid table.

The other trait of Leopards is that they eat a variety of foods. However, these KCCA Leopards have showed us  that they can only eat the small prey (smaller teams). Everytime, they have come against the big dogs, they have been brutalized to the extent that we don’t see any fight in them.

At the moment, when KCCA face the top teams, they look like big cats. Nothing screams Leopards.

Magic Stormers test

On Friday 6th March, KCCA face a very big test. They take on the Magic Stormers, a side that defeated them in the quarter-finals of the 2025 NBL season.

This game is very big for the Leopards because it is an opportunity to show us what you are made of.

They face a team that will come in this game very confident and also a team that is hungry having won just 1 of their last 5 games.

For KCCA, this is an opportunity to make a statement. You have to defeat the Magic Stormers hands down. You ought to remind the public and other teams that you are top side.

If KCCA lose this game, hope in them will be lost. The confidence that people have in them will disappear.

Finding scorers

The KCCA Leopards are heavily reliant on the scoring of Tracy Namugosa.

In the 2 games when they lost terribly, Namugosa scored a total of 14 points.

For a top side like KCCA, you need to find ways of getting your best player to score.

In a case where she has been taken out, you need to find another person to rely on.

At this point, there is no one in KCCA that has put their hands up as that second option.

On would maybe point to Rebecca Aanyu but in those 2 games, she scored a combined 10 points. I don’t think she is the person that you want to bank on to score for you 20 points in a big game.

Uwineza Ninette would have been the other person to look at but her scoring is low.

As things stand, there is no second option for the KCCA Leopards. That is a big problem and they need to find solutions as soon yesterday.

On Friday, the Magic Stormers may try to take out Tracy Namugosa. If they do, what can KCCA do in order to free her and create easy opportunities for her to score.

If they can’t get her opportunities, who steps up? All these will be things to watch out for in that game.

Becky Longom

Longom is a very interesting piece that the KCCA Leopards added to their team.

She is a person that can rebound and also score. However, she is yet to play a game this season due to injury.

In 2025, she barely played for the JKL Lady Dolphins due to injury.

If she returns, will she be fit enough to have an impact straight away?

Also, how much can she help KCCA when it comes to trying to challenge for the championship?

All that remains to be seen but the most important thing is, she has to be available. The good news for KCCA is that she has been in rehab for sometime and hopefully she can return before the first round ends.

The KCCA Leopards currently have a 4-2 record and will face the Magic Stormers on Friday 7th March in a massive game at the YMCA.