By Rora Media Admin
2024 Africa Netball Cup:
- South Africa 63-41 Zimbabwe
- Uganda 51-43 Malawi
Finals (Saturday, 14th December)
- Uganda Vs South Africa – 2 PM (EAT)
Uganda She Cranes will face Pre-tournament favourites South Africa in the final of the 2024 Netball Africa Cup in Namibia tomorrow Saturday, 14th December at the MTC Dome in Swakopmund. South Africa beat Zimbabwe to date Uganda at the finals.
She Cranes qualified for the finals after defeating host (Malawi) in a heated 51-43 win. The girls in yellow, topped pool 2 following the completion of the group stages with two victories (over Namibia and Eswatini) and a loss to Zimbabwe thus facing Malawi at the semifinals.
Malawi, started the game on a high frustrating Uganda forcing a 14-8 quarter one lead. The she Cranes came back strong in quarter 2 to end it level at 23 points up. It all turned around with 3 minutes left to end the quarter Mary Nuba scored to leave the game with a one-point difference as Malawi led 21-20. The girls kept on the pressure into a 22-22 score with one minute left on the clock. Malawi netted to keep the lead before She Cranes equaliser to go into half time levelled at 23-23.
In the third quarter, things turned around as Uganda led the game for the first time on 27-25 points with 11 minutes left. From here, the game turned physical as Malawi was too hard on Ugandans and on two occasions, Uganda was pushed into forced substitutions as players are injured. With 10 minutes left to end the quarter, extended the lead to 30-26 with 9 minutes left.
Uganda extended the lead to a 5-point difference with 36-31 score after Malawi losing centre with 3 minutes left on clock. The quarter ended 39-32 in favour of Uganda.
In the last quarter, Uganda’s 8-point lead was reduced to 6 with 9 minutes running but after some time with 5 minutes left the 8-point lead was regained. Uganda kept on the pressure making it a 10-point lead which was later reduced to 8 and eventually giving a win on 51-43 points.
After the game, the She Cranes captain, Irene Eyaru said, “The game was so tight but we kept on learning the opponents as it went on. We know South Africa too fears us. So come tomorrow we are ready to be champions of the continent.”
