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though, Akello was generous with possession and turned it over the most for the Gazelles, five times to be precise.
Ugandan forward Hope Akello was in the mood from the word go as the Gazelles defeated Egypt 86-85 for their first win of the Fiba Women’s AfroBasket Qualifiers at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium Wednesday night.
The JKL big remains one of the biggest factors in the team and recorded a double-double of 14 points and 11 rebounds despite playing the big part of the second half in foul trouble.
On the down side, though, Akello was generous with possession and turned it over the most for the Gazelles, five times to be precise.
And that is something 26-year-old believes the team and herself have to work on going forward.
“I think we need to work on the turnovers,” Akello said after that thrilling win.
The Gazelles turned it over 20 times against Egypt and while that is an improvement on the 25 times vs. Kenya in the opener, the team can take much better care of the ball.
Brenda Ekone had four turnovers, Flavia Oketcho and Otto gave it away three times each. Ritah Imanishimwe and Evelyne Nakiyingi had two turnovers each while Bridget Aber gave it away once.
Egypt scored 23 points from those turnovers.
“I liked how each and every one played their hearts out,” she added.
Led by Jannon Otto’s 27 points and 14 rebounds, the Gazelles bounced back into contention and will need another win over South Sudan to progress to Sunday’s decider.
“I liked the way everyone was composed, it was beautiful, I love my teammates.”
Progress
The fact that Rwanda is already qualified for the AfroBasket by virtue of being hosts means that results against them do not have a bearing in the qualifiers.
And with Uganda losing to Kenya and beating Egypt, there are now three teams in contention. South Sudan can complicate the mathematics with victory over the hosts.
Head coach Alberto Antuna and his charges will be looking to avoid any mathematics by winning their second game. That will see them automatically into the top two.
The top two teams will face off in a decider on Sunday.
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