KPA surrender Africa Zone Five crown
Volleyball and Handball
By
Ernest Ndunda
| Oct 03, 2022
National women basketball league champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) surrendered the Fiba-Africa Zone Five women basketball title as the championship ended on Saturday at Mkapa Indoor Stadium, Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.
KPA's dream of retaining the trophy for the second in a row went up in smoke after they were beaten 78-69 by Egyptian side Alexandria Sports Club in the final.
However, despite the loss, KPA will join the winners for the final tour of the championships set for December 9-18 in Mozambique from December.
The Porters won last year's title after beating Equity Bank in the final where Egyptian clubs were not represented.
However, the presence of Alexandria in this year's championship was not good news to other clubs as the Egyptian side won all their matches with an unbeaten record.
In the final match, Alexandria came from behind to overpower the Mombasa-based side.
KPA took a narrow 23-22 lead at the first quarter before the Egyptians overtook them to lead 42-39 at the breather.
Alexandria dominated the other subsequent third and fourth quarters for the win.
Guest players Kristina King and Reynolds Victoria from US slammed 19 points each for KPA with Reema Moussa and Nesma Khalifa scoring 21 and 18 points respectively for the winners.
Enroute to the final, KPA stopped APR of Rwanda 61-39 while Alexandria edged out Rwanda Energy Group 49-45.
APR settled for the bronze medal after beating Rwanda Energy Group 42-39 in the playoffs. Kenya's Equity Bank beat Tanzania's Vijana Queens 62-36 for the fifth position of the championship that attracted nine teams.
Hagar Mohammed of Alexandria was the most valuable player while KPA's Reynolds Victoria was the best scorer.
Mireil Muganzanyoya of Rwanda Energy Group was the best defender of the tournament. Nile Legends won the fair play award.