All seeded teams in this year’s Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League; First Bank, Dolphins and Nigeria Customs finished top of the table as the championship goes into a two-week recess.
The teams will converge for the second phase fixed for May 1 to 8 on the Sports Hall, Ramat Square, Kaduna.
According to a statement from the Nigeria Basketball Federation, signed by its Secretary General, Balewa Austin, and made available to our correspondent, all the 18 clubs in the women’s topflight league have been directed to arrive in Kaduna on April 29, while the technical meeting is scheduled for the following day.
The Kaduna’s phase of the league is expected to be more explosive, when the top clubs play each other. In the first phase, defending champions, First Bank, who are seeded top of Group A which also comprises Taraba Hurricanes, Plateau Rocks, Nasarawa Amazons, AHIP Queens and First Deepwater remain unbeaten in all the five matches played.
They defeated Nasarawa Amazons 89-22,Taraba Hurricanes 60-15,AHIP Queens 91-39 1st Deep Water 71-38, Plateau Rocks 73-33 and Taraba Hurricanes 60-15. Another Lagos side Dolphins sit comfortably atop Group B – which includes FCT Angels, Zamfara Babes, Delta Force, Coal City Queens and Sunshine Angels winning all their games.
The Lagos-based club defeated FCT Angels 97 – 60 in their opening game of the season, before further victories over Delta Force (66-65), Sunshine Angels (63-46) and Coal City Babes (50-18).
They then walloped Zamfara Babes 71-27 in their final game on Monday to end the first phase with a 100 per cent record. Group C had Nigeria Customs, GT 2000, Oluyole Babes, Ekiti Angels, Benue Princess and IGP Queens with Customs also winning all. Meanwhile, top basketball stakeholders have frowned at the five-phase structure of the league, describing it as “cash consuming.”
