With only two players, hosts Lady Bucks overcome ANU Panthers

Lady Bucks' Juliet Amollo (left) dribbles past Nicole Adhiambo of ANU during yesterday's at KBF women's Premier League match at Magadi Primary School in Kisumu. [Michael Mute, Standard]

Lady Bucks survived a second half scare to stun African Nazarene University (ANU) Panthers 70-68 in overtime in a tight Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) women's Premier League match at Magadi Primary School in Manyatta, Kisumu yesterday.

Lady Bucks, who had only seven players available on the match day, found themselves playing with two players in overtime after five of their players were ejected after fouling out more than five times.

Stephanie Tongoi, Cindy Phylis, Jecinta Adhiambo, Caster Nasiyo, Mary Omala and Florence Juma were all thrown out after accumulating five fouls.

According to the KBF match rules, a player will be suspended throughout the match if he or she commits five personal fouls.

Forward Stephanie Tongoi who was ejected in the second overtime dropped a double-double of a game high 29 points and 12 rebounds as he guided the Kisumu outfit out of the relegation zone.

Shooting guard Elsa Ndong followed with 15 points and seven assists as point guard Juliet Omollo dropped 11 points and 10 assists in the victory that saw Lady Bucks move to eighth in the standings with 13 points.

Tongoi got the hosts off a strong start after scoring eight points as Cindy Phylis added three points to lead 11-7 in the first quarter.

Another big performance from Tongoi (9 points) and Omollo (6 points) saw Lady Bucks take an 11-point halftime lead with the visitors trailing 25-14 after the second quarter.

In the final half, Stella Nekesa who scored 20 points for ANU started the visitors' fight back into the game as Panthers outplayed the Bucks 19-14 to cut the gap to six points.

ANU who moved fourth with 16 points despite the loss sent the game to overtime with a 20-14 fourth quarter win after utilizing their numerical advantage against Bucks who had four players on the court when three players were thrown out after committing five fouls.

In overtime, matters went from bad to worse when Tongoi also accumulated five fouls leaving Omollo, Nasiyo and Ndong on the court with the scores still tied 53-53.

Both teams scored 10 points each to tie 63-63 by the end of the first overtime before Lady Bucks would be reduced to two players (Nasiyo suspended) with 10 second left on the clock.

Against all odds, Lady Bucks would outscore Panthers 17-15 in overtime to win the game 70-68 with only two active players (Omollo and Ndong) left on the court.

In Mombasa, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) teams moved top of the standings after defeating Kenyatta University (KU) sides at Makande Gymnasium.

KPA men's who are the defending champions announced their return from Basketball Africa League assignments with a 72-61 win over KU Pirates to reclaim their top spot with 21 points.

KPA had dropped to third on the log with 19 points with former champions Ulinzi Warriors and Equity Dumas earlier moving top on 20 points

In the women's match, champions KPA thrashed KU Oryx 93-20 to maintain their 100 percent start to the season of 11 wins in a row.