CAIRO (Egypt) – Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) have continued their stellar start on return to the Women’s Basketball League Africa (WBLA), going 2-0 with an 82-53 victory over former champions First Bank. <\/p>\n
The battle of returnees saw the Kenyan side, who missed out in 2024 dominate all quarters to subject the Nigerian side, coming back after a six-year absence, to their second loss in Group B.<\/p>\n
\u201c<\/p>\n
I am confident this squad can go the distance – Aminata Samassekou<\/p>\n
Malian guard Aminata Samassekou and American center Alexus Johnson led the Nabil Kabalan-coached side to victory, scoring 20 and 19 points respectively, both finishing with 22 in efficiency rating. <\/p>\n
Samassekou, who had scored just two as the 2023 silver medalists got their campaign underway with an 83-64 win against Cameroo’s FAP on opening day, was a different player, as was Johnson who fouled out, having played just 11 minutes, scoring four in the opener. <\/p>\n
The Malian had scored just three in a 19-13 opening quarter, but came alive in the second, dropping two treys, with a mid-range jumper in between to take the score to 27-14 in the opening two minutes. <\/p>\n
Halfway through, she had scored 12 points before coach Kabalan rested her for Natalie Mwangale who assisted two and scored a basket before paving way for Samassekou who closed the stanza with an assist to Sara Dickey for a clutch three, the match heading to the halftime break with KPA leading 45-24. <\/p>\n
Again, the guard was at hand as KPA overcame a shaky start in the third stanza, reading from the second quarter script to open the score with a steal which she converted from range. Johnson set her up for a fastbreak layup that saw the Kenyan champions hit 50 points (50-24). <\/p>\n
The American, who had thus far scored four in the 26 minutes took charge, scoring nine as the third quarter ended 19-13. She closed out the match with six more, including her only three point in seven attempts to finish as the side’s second best scorer. <\/p>\n
Samassekou shot 7-of-9, adding three for the free throw line for her final tally. Four rebounds, three steals and as many assists completed her spectacular performance as Johnson, who shot 5-of-9 from inside, came two rebounds shy of a double-double. The 6’5″ center finished with five assists and two steals as the duo, alongside Dickey who scored 15 led KPA to victory. <\/p>\n
Aminata Samassekou told FIBA.Basketball: “It was a good game for us. We stuck to the coach’s game plan and even though we didn’t have the best of starts, we made adjustments defensively, which gave us good transition on offense and our shots were falling. We also played together, helping each other and I am happy for the win. We are two wins in and I am confident this squad can go the distance. We are, however, taking it a game at a time and for now the focus is to finish the group stage strong.”<\/p>\n
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