Achieng ready to help KPA book finals spot

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) captain Vilma Achieng believes they will complete a sweep over Storms when they clash in game three of the Kenya Basketball Federation (KBF) Women’s Premier League playoff semi-finals at KPA Makande Gymnasium today.

The dockers head into game three with a 2-0 advantage after taking game one and two 89-61 and 79-33 respectively. They know a win today will all but seal their qualification to the finals.

Achieng, who dropped 17 points in each game last weekend at Nyayo Gymnasium, said they are ready to kill off their opponents and start early preparations for the finals.

In an interview with the Standard Sports, the Kenya Lioness forward said that if they build on last week’s performance they can even win with a greater margin and be mentally stronger heading into the finals.

“Winning in Nairobi felt good. But we are not there yet because anything is possible. We don’t want to give them a chance and with home court advantage I trust we will close out the game,” said Achieng.

“We have prepared to the best of our ability and what remains is playing. We want to officially get into the finals first then start dreaming of winning the league. Right now we have a game to close.”

On the other hand, KPA men are staring at elimination after losing their two opening matches against Equity Dumas in Nairobi.

The former national champions have to win game three if they are to stand a chance of making a come back into the best of five series playoff semis. The dockers lost the opening two games (64-54 and 78-66) at Nyayo and a defeat will grant the bankers their maiden finals appearance in the club’s history.

“Our goal at the start of the season was to get into the finals this year after always being knocked out in the quarter-finals for the past five years,” said Equity head coach David Maina.

“That ice is finally broken and now we are on a championship journey. KPA is not easy team now all we want is to win game three since we don’t want give them a chance. We want to finish them off and rest up for the finals.”.