KPA face acid test against champions Ferroviario

Kenya Ports Authority's Aminata (right) and FOX Divas' Noela Uwandameno mid FIBA Women Basketball League Africa 2025 Qualifiers at Nyayo National Stadium, gymnasium, on Nov 9, 2025. [Jonah Onyango, Standard]

After two successive victories and a place in the last eight, Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) face a daunting task when they play reigning champions Ferroviario de Maputo in their last Group B match of the 2025 Women Basketball League Africa (WBLA) in Cairo, Egypt.

Both sides are unbeaten and tied on four points, thus, the top of the bill clash will decide the winner of the pool.

After two rounds of matches, Ferroviario lead the group thanks to an eight-point difference.

KPA, who returned to the continental stage after missing last year's contest in Dakar, Senegal, have registered impressive results in their first two encounters surpassing the 80-point mark.

However, coach Nabil Kabalan says even though the wins may show they are having great games, the statistics prove otherwise and they need to work harder.

“If you look at the statistics, the score is not a perfect like situation. If you look at the score you think we had an amazing game, but if you look closely, we had 12 offensive rebounds, they had 28, we had 24 turnovers and this is a lot," he said.

"Having 24 assists is good but offensively on 12 against 28 is worrying because if we do this against great teams they will kill us.”

His sentiments were echoed by shooting guard Sara Nicole Dickey who said that they need to build on the game going into their next challenge.

“There is always a lot of room for improvement so we are going to keep building on what we did well, stay confident in that and keep working harder in practice,” Dickey said.

Going into today’s clash, Kabalan said they must rectify their mistakes.

“We have to look and talk about these statistics in our next training session because it’s time to fix our problems and fix our mistakes,” he added.

In another Group B tie, winless FirstBank (Nigeria) and Forces Armées et Police (FAP) from Cameroon will face off in a bid to secure an only win and enhance their chances of a better ranking.

A win for either side could help them advance to the knockouts as a best loser if they rank among the top eight teams after the preliminaries.

The two have lost their matches to KPA and Ferroviario who have already snatched the automatic quarter-final slots in the pool.

Hosts Al Ahly Sporting Club will be out to extend their good run in their last Group A match against Sporting Club de Luanda from Angola.

Al Ahly have earned a direct qualification to the championship, having defeated Friends Basketball Association (FBA) from Ivory Coast and Zone Five silver medalists Rwanda Energy Group (REG).