Ghana, Burkina Faso departs Nigeria

The teams are, however, not going empty-handed as the ladies won the the bronze medal despite not winning any match in this competition. Only three schools turned up in the female category in the event thatfeatured 17 teams from five countries.

The ladies from University of Ghana, Legon, yesterday lost their last match to University of Lagos by a 50 point blow out - the widest margin in the competition. The match ended 79-29.  The match between UniLag and the Ghanaians also set basketball record in Nigeria as the first quarter ended 17-0. It nearly took another full quarter before Jennifer Menson scored fot Legon to put the scores at 37-1 in one sided first half. She eventually scored 11 of her teams 29 points. Bintu Badmus hit 18 for the Nigerians and as top scorer for both sides.

The Nigerians had the luxury was wasting scoring chances from the paint even when unmarked.  "We could not train on this court before our two matches. One problem or the other prevented out team from using the hall for training since we arrived and that showed in the scoring," Emmanuel Okolo, coach of UniLag defended. The two Nigerian teams will settle for first and second on Saturday.  The boys from Legon will share in the glory of their ladies.


 
The Burkinabe mens team also crashed out late night  yesterday after loosing the quarter final match against hosts ABU.  The ABU team entered the venue with the hall packed full with spectators, cheering, clapping and dancing to the chagrin of the Burkinabes.
 
About 15 cheer ladies dressed in white T-Shirt and Jeans added glamour to the  supporting group. Confirming the ABU basketball coach statement of "no shaking", the surpressed the initial scare from the burkinabes, winning the match convincingly with 122-73. The match was characterised by fouls mostly from the  Burkinabe boys and the penalty paid off for the ABU team, who converted most of their free throws.
 
Apart from the sparkling skills and professional dunking fro ABU boys, the crowd also highteened their performance and spurred them into victory. The ABU team seems set  to clinch the gold medal at this year's championship.