Debutants South Sudan Storm into AfroBasket Quarterfinals with Vital Win over Egypt

Debutants South Sudan Storm into AfroBasket Quarterfinals with Vital Win Over Egypt

Women's AfroBasket debutants South Sudan recorded a big upset at the ongoing tournament in Abidjan when they stunned Egypt 75-65 in the classification game for the quarterfinals and advanced to the last 8 in their very first attempt.

Egypt had raced into a 7-0 lead after just three minutes and had already forced the South Sudanese ladies to make five turnovers before the latter eventually bagged its first two points. The Egyptians kept a full court press on the Sudanese all through the first half with fast breaks and quick passes that saw them take the first quarter 26-10. 

However, the South Sudanese overcame the full court press in the second quarter to produce a strong fightback courtesy of the debutants' bench who came to the party to outscore the opponents, also scoring more points in the paint to take a two-point lead into the halftime. 

South Sudan picked up from where they left off at the break since the lead changed just once as they made a strong start to the second half with the bench ensuring a God display registering 25 points even as they showed stronger power in the paint to amass 44 points as against Egypt's 28.

Raneem Elgedawy's 25 points, 6 rebounds and 5 steals were not enough to help her team go through as South Sudan's second half blowout especially with their defensive rebounds ensured a smooth ride into the quarterfinals.

Maria Gakdeng was massive in driving the final outcome for South Sudan as she led the scorers chart with 19 points, 24 rebounds, with 12 apiece offensively and defensively in addition to 2 assists and 1 steal.

Rose Macuei and Delicia Washington combined for 34 points and also combined for 17 rebounds.

It was a disappointing end for the Egyptians who were primed as one of the teams to watch but failed to manage a game in which they started brightly when it mattered most.

Adut Balguk talked about what they needed to fix to combat Egypt's full court press especially at halftime.

“You know, the game was obviously stressful. You could see the emotions everywhere. But ultimately, I'm proud of how everybody kept their poise. Nobody gave up, being down 20 is tough but to watch all of them fight from the first person to the last person on the bench, you can't ask for a better team to cherish this win.”

When asked about how important Delicia Washington was for the team especially as it concerns what she brought to the team in today's game, she had this to say.

“She brings a lot of experience to the team. She's the second-boldest player after me. I think the girls really respect her game. And I think the thing that makes it so great playing with Delicia is when she came to the team, she fit in right away. You know, sometimes it's hard to welcome new players, but immediately she took on the team, she built chemistry with each and every single player, and I think that's why she's such a key asset to our team. Apart from the basketball part, she has just been the perfect fit, personality-wise and amazing."

AfricaBasket also caught up with Piath Gabriel and she shared some locker room notes with us at halftime.

“I just think that we all came together as a team and we played team basketball. After the first half, we had a nice talk in the locker room and stuff, we got to come together as a team and that's how we played. We played hard and played with heart.”

She also added that it was part of their training camp drills to stay united. 

“At training camp, it was more every single day. We went at each other every day and that's how we learned. Every single day, just like how we fight each other at training camp. All we know is to play hard, play hard, have fun and play smart. And that's it.”

With the win, South Sudan will next play Group C table topppers Uganda in the quarterfinals next while Egypt will settle for another classification game in the 5th-8th placed category.