Your Weekly Dose of FIBA Africa Zone 3 News: Togo’s Shooting Stars win the Women’s Division 1 League title, while Liberia’s LPRC Oilers secure the 2025 National Basketball Championship, both preparing for continental Road to BAL 2026 qualifiers.
Last Updated on
October 15, 2025
The Shooting Stars are Togo's Women's Division 1 League champions after a hard-fought 51-40 victory over the Swallows in the grand final. The game was a tense rematch between the two sides as Swallows started slowly, trailing by the end of the first quarter. Shooting Star built on that early lead and went into halftime up 25-17.
After the break, Swallows fought back, cutting the deficit to just four points in the third quarter. The game was marred by the loss of two key players for both sides as Swallows lost point guard Elom to an injury, while Shooting Star played without suspended star Rachelle. Her absence fueled the Stars to control the final quarter, and they closed out the game with a decisive 51-40 victory that saw them go on to lift the trophy.
With the win, the Stars dethroned defending champion Racing Club de Lomé in the Togolese women's basketball league.
In the Men's game, Lomé rivals Etoile Filante and Modèle de Lomé will lock horns for the championship title in Aného after the two city teams earned their spots in tense semifinal fixtures played at the Boka court. In the first game, Modèle de Lomé beat Dyto 76-63 in a fast-paced, back-and-forth battle, while the second semifinal saw Etoile Filante put up a strong defensive display to secure a 57-47 victory against Swallows.
The classification results from the finals saw Bassar Basketball team claim 5th place with a 46-32 win over Tsévié Basketball Club, while Semassi secured a narrow 33-32 victory against 7 Collines d'Atakpamé in another classification matchup.
The Oilers showed some depth throughout the best-of-five finals against the Pythons, especially after falling in the opening game, but bounced back with two consecutive wins and to take a commanding 2–1 lead in the series. Sunday's clash was set to determine whether a decisive Game Five would be required, but the Pythons failed to appear for the crucial matchup for some undisclosed reasons.
According to league regulations, any team that fails to honour a scheduled match forfeits the game. As a result, NPA Pythons' forfeiture handed LPRC Oilers the title, as they sealed a 3-1 series win.
LPRC Oilers will now represent Liberia in the Road to BAL 2026 qualifying series, where they will square off against Jeunesse Club d'Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire), Spintex Knights (Ghana), and Elan Coton (Benin) in Group B of the qualification system, with the competition set to tip off this October.
21 clubs from across the continent will be competing for a place in the 2026 season. The group phase will be hosted in five nations, divided into West and East divisions and the top two teams from each group automatically advance to the Elite 16 round where they will be joined by three wild-card teams from the best third-place finishers.
[Photography / Imagery Courtesy of Spintex Knights, LPRC Oilers, TogoGoal]
.jpg)
