The Kenya national women’s basketball team, the Lioness, finished fourth in the FIBA Afrobasket qualifiers following an 80-63 defeat to South Sudan in their third-place playoff match in Cairo on Saturday, February 8, 2025.
This marked the second encounter between the two teams during the tournament, with South Sudan previously securing an 86-69 victory on Tuesday.
In the first quarter, South Sudan established a commanding 32-13 lead. Despite a determined effort from Kenya, who won the second quarter 25-15, they were unable to maintain that momentum. South Sudan responded by winning the third and fourth quarters 18-12 and 15-13, respectively, clinching their first-ever bronze medal at the zonal championships.
As former African silver medallists, Kenya will miss out on the continental showpiece for the second consecutive year, dropping from third place in the qualifiers in 2023 to fourth this year.
Kenyan coach George Mayienga attributed the team’s performance in this year’s competition to inadequate preparation time and the absence of key players.
“Playing a team twice is always challenging, but it also provides an opportunity to improve on what was lacking in the first game. We started slowly, managed to catch up in the second quarter, but lacked the energy to sustain our performance in the second half. However, I take positives from our play in the third quarter, as that has been our biggest challenge,” Coach Mayienga said.
In other results, Uganda emerged as champions of the Women’s AfroBasket Zone Five Qualifiers after a convincing 74-63 win over defending champions Egypt, securing their spot in Abidjan for this year’s continental competition.
Kenya Lioness Results in Egypt:
* Kenya 56-78 Uganda
* Kenya 69-86 South Sudan
* Kenya 87-53 Burundi
* Kenya 62-84 Egypt
3rd Place Playoff:
* Kenya 63-80 South Sudan
