In a thrilling culmination to the domestic basketball season, the UCU Lady Canons captured a record-extending ninth National Basketball League (NBL) title. They did so by defeating a resilient JT Lady Jaguars side, 4–1 in the finals series.

Coming into game 5, the Lady Jaguars had won game 4 to make the series 3-1, with the Lady canons in the lead and although they still had hope of making a comeback, the margins were narrow.

The Lady canons had lost game 4, 72-52, and they did not want to extend the series any further. If they had lost game 5, the momentum would have heavily swung in favor of the JT Lady Jaguars. When you add the fact that majority of the Lady Jaguars’ players had won a championship before whereas only one UCU player had won it, the Lady canons would have set themselves up for disaster. They had to complete the mission in game 5 on Sunday 30th August at Lugogo.

Game 5

Atin the first quarter, the JT Lady Jaguars were hot from the 3-point line, they made 3 triples and led the game 15-12. However, the story changed in the second quarter. The JT Lady Jaguars scored the first 5 points in the quarter and extend their lead to 8 points. UCU did not score their first points in the quarter until after 3 minutes but once they did, they made a 10-0 run to take a 2-point lead. The Lady jaguars were limited to just 3 points in over 8 minutes and at the halftime break, UCU led the game 24-23. All was to play for in the second half.

After a low scoring first half, we did not envision what would happen next. It rained points in the third quarter. The third quarter started on fire as both teams were hot from beyond the arc. It was a case of you score, I score. The first 9 of the first 10 field goals in the quarter were 3-point shots.

In all this, the Lady Canons managed to go into the fourth quarter leading the game 46-42. The Lady Jaguars had to dig deep to turn the game around and force game 6.

The start of the fourth quarter is the exact opposite of what the Lady Jaguars needed. Mariam Namukwaya and Shillah Lamunu each scored a triple before Martina Anyango converting from the line to make it a 12-point game.

The Jaguars’ offense was not firing anything and their first points came almost 4 minutes into the quarter. Brenda Kayaga hit a huge three to breathe some life into them but Martina Anyango hit a big jumper shortly before Sarah Namale delivering the final nail in the coffin with a 3-pointer off the back board.

Down 14 with just over 5 minutes remaining in the game, the JT Lady Jaguars needed a miracle to turn this around. It was a race against time but they couldn’t do much the UCU went on to win 63-49.

Top Performers (game 5)

Martina Anyango registered a double-double with 15 points, 11 rebounds and 2 assists. Zoe Atek has 12 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds. Shillah Lamunu scored 4 3-point shots and finished with 12 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists.

Brenda Kayaga and Maimuna Nabbosa each scored 4 3-point shots and 14 points. Mercy Batamuliza led in rebounding with 13 while AziidaNabyunga made 2 triples and finished with 8 points.

Facts

The UCU Lady Canons their ninth NBL Championship. JT Lady Jaguars has now lost back-to-back finals. Only one player (Lovi Najjuko) who was part of the last UCU Lady Canons team to win in 2022 played for them and she was the Captain.