Former champions, First Deepwater Basketball Club of Lagos had to rely on experience to dispatch Benue Princess 40-37 in a pulsating encounter played yesterday in Abuja at the Zenith Bank Women Basketball League.
The Lagos team trailed at 16-19 at the end of the second quarter, tied the third quarter on 31 points and had to fight back offensive from the Princess to win the game, albeit in an unconvincing manner. The former champions seem to be suffering from the loss of some of their players especially Nkechi Akashili, who has been a pillar for the club since it was formed few years back.
In the other game, Plateau Rock defeated Oluyole Babes 45-31 with both teams battling for supremacy throughout the game. However, it was the team for Jos that picked the two points at stake to push for a place in the Final Eight. The IGP Queens also ran riot against GT 2000 winning 73-18 in a one-sided game. Also, First Bank defeated Taraba Hurrinces 92-24.
In today’s game, Zamfara takes on Delta Force, Benue Princess lock horns with Immigration, Coal City Queens battles Dolphins while AHIP Queens take on Plateau Rocks. In other games, First Deepwater battles Taraba Hurricanes, Nasarawa Amazons play Custom, Sunshine Angels takes on First Bank, FCT Angels battles IGP Queens.
With the improved N30million sponsorship fee, the winner of the league would get N1.2m, the second placed team will receive N1m, while the third placed team will smile home with N800, 000, the biggest in the history of the women League.