JKL Lady Dolphins defeat UCU Lady Canons to win championship

Game Seven
JKL Lady Dolphins 62-55 UCU Lady Canons (OT)

The women’s National Basketball League final between JKL Lady Dolphins and UCU Lady Canons lived up to the billing as the two went all the way to the decider game of the finals.

Lady Dolphins dug deep to recover from a 14-point deficit in game six and won by a single point to force a decider.

The defending champions carried their momentum into the last game and defeated the Lady Canons to defend title at the Indoor Arena in Lugogo Wednesday night.

The two sides needed overtime to be separated and JKL’s experience came to the fore to help them to a 62-55 victory in an epic encounter.

UCU may have made the first points of the game off a Sarah Ageno 3-pointer but JKL recovered and led 16-11 after the first quarter.

The lead stretched to 7 points (44-37) for Henry Malinga’s charges at half time.

UCU started better in the third frame and made 9 unanswered points to lead 46-44.

The two sides went pound for pound and couldn’t be separated after regulation time.

Tied at 52-all after the fourth quarter, overtime would separate the two and JKL forced UCU into errors to hand them the game.

JKL dominated the boards and outdid UCU 61-50.

Of the 29 turnovers made by UCU, there were three expensive ones by their most experienced player Zainah Lokwameri in overtime. 

Hope Akello was player of the game , recording 18 points, 16 rebounds and five assists before fouling out in overtime.

Ritah Imanishimwe and Stella Oyella scored ten and nine points respectively. The latter added 16 rebounds.

Lokwameri came off the bench to contribute 17 points and seven rebounds before getting injured in overtime.

Rose Akon, held scoreless in the first half, registered a double double of 13 points and 14 rebounds for UCU.

The victory handed JKL their second league title in two years.