Lagos -- The Ghanaian teams to the 2005 West African University Basketball Championship are expected to leave Zaria today for the onward journey to Accra just as the championship enters the semi finals this evening.
The teams are; however, not going empty-handed as the ladies won the bronze medal despite not winning any match in this competition. Only three schools turned up in the female category in the event that featured 17 teams from five countries.
The ladies from University of Ghana, Legon, yesterday lost their last match to University of Lagos by a 50-point blow out - the widest margin in the competition. The match ended 79-29.
The match between Unilag and the Ghanaians also set a basketball record in Nigeria as the first quarter ended 17-0. It nearly took another full quarter before Jennifer Menson scored for Legon to put the scores at 37-1 in one sided first half. She eventually scored 11 of her teams 29 points. Bintu Badmus hit 18 for the
Nigerians and as top scorer for both sides. The Nigerians had the luxury of wasting scoring chances from the paint even when unmarked.
"We could not train on this court before our two matches. One problem or the other prevented out team from using the hall for training since we arrived and that showed in the scoring," Emmanuel Okolo, coach of Unilag defended.
The two Nigerian teams will settle for first and second tomorrow.
The boys from Legon will share in the glory of their ladies.
