Equity Hawks submit to Angola's Inter Clube in Africa Women Basketball League opener

Grace Malu of Equity Hawks (right) tussles for the ball against Inter Clube's Eduarda Gabriel. [FIBA]

Equity Bank Hawks Basketball Club on Monday begun their Africa Women Basketball League (AWBL) campaign on the back foot after losing 80-55 to Angola's Inter Clube during their opening Group B match in Alexandria, Egypt.

Inter Clube, who boast a star-studded squad that includes former MVPs of the AWBL predecessor Champions Cup for Women Italee Lucas and Ingvild Mucauro, raced to an early 10-3 lead and 17-5 in the opening part of the quarter but the Kenyan bankers fought back to trail 27-19 at the end of the first quarter.

An 18-point run for Angola's Inter Clube in the opening 5 minutes of the second quarter against Equity Bank Hawks proved detrimental for the latter as they went on to lose the match.

Speaking after the defeat, Equity Bank coach Benson Oluoch said they lost the game due to a lot of turnovers.

"Statistics don't lie, we gave the opponent 33 points off our 39 turnovers and went on to lose by 25 and that shows we have to take care of the ball better and be patient on offense,"

"In the second quarter, Inter Clube came out pressing and our lack of experience especially from our young players showed as they couldn't deal with the situation. This, however, is a learning process and I believe we will come out better for the second match," said Oluoch.