DEBUTANTS CHAMPIONS: Newbies Kaya Tiwi clinch basketball title

Newbies Kaya Tiwi were yesterday crowned the Brookside East Africa Secondary Schools girls' basketball champions.

The Kenyan girls beat Lycee du Lac Tanganyika of Burundi 54-51 in a grueling finals match played at Moi Girls Eldoret.

Determined not to lose to the guests for the second time in the same competition, Tiwi rallied from behind to silence the Burundians who had narrowly beaten them 38-37 in the preliminaries.

Just like they did at the nationals, Tiwi made a memorable debut to the regional games, ascending to the throne on their first attempt.

The Kenyan girls proved their mettle by downing the resilient Burundians to win their maiden regional trophy.

''Our aim was to win this year's trophy and we never gave up even after losing our group match. The loss was a wake-up call and a reminder that we should work harder because we were also beatable.

"We had not tasted defeat from the the sub-county to the East Africa level even so that lose was a blessing in disguise for us,'' Kaya Tiwi skipper Lilian Adera said.

New boys' champions were also crowned as APE Rugunga of Rwanda dethroned last year's winners ETG Nyakabiga of Burundi.

Rugunga beat Nyakabiga 85 -72 to end their one-year reign. The Rwandans made their intentions known with a 20-10 win in the first quarter.

The second was balanced and ended in a 16-16 draw. They won the third 27-16 as Nyakabiga came in stronger in the fourth taking it 27-22 but it was a little too late for the Burundians andthey had to surrender their diadem.

Former boys' winners Upper Hill of Kenya beat PS Baptiste of Rwanda 60-47 while St Mary's Kitende of Uganda prevailed 76-52 over Lycee de Kigali to win the boys' and girls' playoffs respectively.

Meanwhile, St John's Kaloleni were forced to wait for another year to try their luck on the girls' football title as they fell to GS Remera of Rwanda 5-6 in post match penalties.

Former champions Wiyeta took bronze following their 2-0 win over Uganda's Masaka.