2025 Zenith basketball League champions, First Bank beat FAP in their Women's Basketball League Africa Group finale. With this victory, First Bank finishes with a 1-2 record and kept their chance of advancing alive. FAP concluded their group play with a 0-3 record.
Last Updated on
December 9, 2025
In a decisive final group stage encounter at the Women's Basketball League Africa in Cairo, Zenith Basketball League Champions, First Bank, secured a hard-fought victory over FAP of Cameroon. The clash was a low-scoring showdown characterised by intense defensive pressure and minimal separation between the sides throughout.
Wandoo Hembam, who had been the top performer for the Lagos-based club across all three games, led all scorers with 12 points, adding two rebounds and five assists, while shooting 42.7% from long range. For FAP, veteran Nkem Akaraiwe led her side with 11 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in a losing effort.
The first half established a pattern of narrow margins from the opening tip, as it was clear this would be a game earned through some grit. A slow-paced, physically contested game, with every shot and every pass challenged, but FAP managed to carve out a slender advantage, their defence holding firm to take a 14-13 lead.
Undeterred, the Nigerians responded in the second with a more deliberate pace mirroring their opponent's defensive intensity from the opening quarter as they clawed back with a razor-thin margin of 13-12. As the teams headed for the locker rooms, the scoreboard told the whole story: 26-26, with no dominant plays, just ten players on each side, leaving everything on the floor, and finding their counterparts doing the same.
The third quarter offered no reprieve as the pattern from the opening two quarters continued as both ket drawing fouls, making turnovers, committing errors and struggled to finish off simple moves with the lead changing hands like a secret no one could keep and just when it seemed the stalemate would stretch interminably, a final, crucial push from FAP in the closing seconds of the quarter broke the rhythm. With less than a minute on the clock, they managed to edge the period by two points, 14-12, to take a 40-38 lead heading into the final quarter.
Facing elimination, First Bank knew they had to respond in this quarter, and they went on to produce a critical comeback in the closing minutes of the final quarter. A decisive late surge, fueled by two three-pointers from Ebiega and Wandoo, alongside a key basket and a free throw inside the final two minutes, proved the difference on the day as this flurry of scores delivered the necessary points for a First Bank victory.
In the end, First Bank capitalised more effectively on its opponent's errors, generating 20 points off turnovers, compared to FAP's 11. The Cameroonians, however, had more advantage in fast-break points (13) and in second-chance points (12-10). Scoring in the paint was nearly even, with FAP holding a slight 22-20 margin, b ut it was First Bank who secured the most important stat of the day - the win.
The 1-2 record secured by the Nigerians was a definite lifeline, keeping their faint hopes of advancing to the next round alive, while FAP of Cameroon concluded their group campaign with a 0-3 record. The battle of strugglers was not decided by dominance but by resilience, and by the desperate will to find one more shot, one more stop, when it actually mattered most.
Wandoo Hembam, who recently ranked 'AfricaBasket's Top 5: Point Guards' series and was the top performer today, spoke to AfricaBasket after the game and admitted the team's initial struggles at the start, as well as her personal drive to play the sport.
"We didn't start well but we are glad it ended well, our struggles actually started from the warmups today, it affected us but we were able to manage the game well.
On what I hope to achieve in the sport, again, I know I am still young and I want to attain a good height, have a global presence but I just want to remain focused on this journey especially with the experiences I have had so I am pushing real hard to attain that height."
On the chances of First Bank remaining in the tournament and possibly having a good run, Wandoo, who mentioned DTigress’ Ezinne Kalu and Sarah Ogoke as the women who inspire her game, said the Elephant spirit will keep the team going in Cairo.
"We are a big side and we don't settle for less, we are Nigerians and we don't usually accept finishing last, so it's not over for us just yet, the win means a lot to us and our morale is charged now that if we sniff at going all the way to the top here, we are ready to grab the chance."
[Photography Courtesy of FIBA]
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