The KCCA Leopards officially clinched their spot in the 2026 National Basketball League (NBL) women’s semi-finals after completing a ruthless 2-0 quarterfinal series sweep over the UPDF Lady Tomahawks. This is the first time that the Leopards have made it past the quarter-finals in a long time.

Coming into this series, the two teams were evenly matched and with the Lady Tomahawks having defeated the Leopards in their last meeting, they had a lot of confidence. However, in game one, KCCA managed to secure a 60-43 after a dominant fourth quarter performance where they outscored the army-side 22-8.

With that emphatic fourth quarter performance behind them, the Leopards looked to seal the deal in game two but it was not going to be a walk in the park.

UPDF started the game on a high and led 17-12 after the first quarter. What hit them in the second and third quarter, they weren’t prepared for it. KCCA outscored them 26-12 to take a 9-point lead into the halftime break.

In the third quarter, the momentum carried forward as they limited UPDF to 13 points while scoring 21 to increase their lead to 17 points ahead of the fourth quarter. The 3-point shots were working for the Leopards and they dropped 4 in that quarter, including the final field goal of the quarter.

With this big lead, a UPDF comeback would be a miracle but they kept pushing nonetheless. The army side made a 6-0 run to start the final quarter but after that, the Leopards completely obliterated them. They made a 24-4 run and scored 21 points in the final 5 minutes of the game.

Player Stats

Tracy Namugosa dropped a game-high 27 points. Zainah Lokwameri was efficient from the 3-point line as she scored 4 from the 5 attempts and finished the game with 14 points. Uwineza Ninette (11) and Susan Rebecca Aanyu (10) also scored double-digits for the KCCA leopards.

Ruth Letaru registered a double-double, 10 points and 10 rebounds while Moureen Atulinda had 12 points with 6/8 from the field.

A Heavyweight Semifinal Showdown

After a long time, the KCCA Leopards have finally gone past he quarterfinal hurdle. They will now face the eight-time record champions, UCU Lady Canons, in a highly anticipated best-of-five semi-final series.

The Lady Canons secured their spot earlier via a 2-0 sweep of the KIU Rangers, setting the stage for a spectacular clash of NBL titans.