Cotonou '06: Mali beat Ivory Coast to trophy

The Malien showed chapions stuff from the first quarter using size to its advantage winning the quarter in grand style 19-05.

The Ivoires tried hard to come back into the game in the second quater by reducing the gap-points from 14 to 11 for a 17-14 points win but gave in to the more experience Malien in the third quarter which ended 27-21 points.

Little Ivories shooting guard Kani Kouyate who her teammate in scoring with 26 points tried to put her country back in contention in the fourth and last quarter which ended 23-17 points in their favour but was not enough to salvage the situation for them.

Kouyate who later won the championship highest points scorer was a delight to watch as she also grabbed 11 rebounds, her elder sister and team captain Mariama Kouyate contributed 11 points and 10 rebounds while Souko Maimouna Thiam added 10 points garnered by the Ivories who has also booked a FIBA U19 World (Women Championship billed for 2007.

Malien playmaker, captain and championship most valuable player (MVP) Fanta Toure scored a championship high of 31 points and grabbed 8 rebounds, Nagnouma Coulibaly had a double double of 13 points and 17 rebounds as the duo of Sira Diakite and Fatoumata Bagayogo added 11 points each.

Five players were voted as the continent's top-5 best young players with Mali contributing two Toure and Coulibaly, Ivories Kani Kouyate, Angolan shooting guard Catarina Da Silva Eusebio and RD Congo forward Diane Tuzolana Mabibi complete the list.

RD Congo won the third place trophy beating host Republic of Benin 85-44 points of (24-08, 19-13, 20-11 and 22-12) in a one sided encounter.