THERE was no joy for Zimbabwe as both the men and women sides lost their Afro-Can and Afro-basket qualifying matches respectively at the Zimbabwe International Exhibition Centre yesterday.
The men’s side suffered a 63-53 defeat at the hands of Zambia. The first quarter began at a frantic pace and at the end of it, both sides were tied at 16 points apiece.
Zimbabwe upped the tempo in the second quarter which they finished with a lead of five points, at that point the score read 35-30 in favour of Zimbabwe.
The hosts slipped in the third quarter which ended 42-46 in favour of Zambia who controlled the game to the end.
Vitalis Chikoko top scored for Zimbabwe with 15 points and one assist. Nalumino Simioti was Zambia’s top scorer with 17 points.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s women basketball coach Pondai Chitauro says chances of getting the sole ticket to the Afro-basket finals set for Rwanda are now slim after they lost two consecutive games at the qualifiers presently underway in Bulawayo.
Hosts Zimbabwe, Mozambique, Zambia and Angola will play each other twice in the course of this week as one of them will earn the ticket to Rwanda.
The Zimbabwean women were victims of yet another heavy defeat yesterday evening, this time at the hands of Mozambique who won 95-43. Zimbabwe had on Wednesday lost 105-41 against Angola.
From the three games they have played so far Zimbabwe have only managed one win, a 69-57 triumph over Zambia.
Against Mozambique, Happiness Maroto was Zimbabwe’s top scorer with 15 points and one assist. The trio of Fransica Sekete, Thelma Goredema, and Tadiwa Mabika had the second best score with six points each.
“We played better against Mozambique than against the Angolans. I have told the girls that we must get better in every match. We have seven games in eight days and every game we must learn and continue learning.
“Eight of the 12 players in the squad are rookies and this is an opportunity for them to learn. My message to them daily is to get better with each game. We play the same team again tommorow and we will see how the girls play it should tell us if we are improving,” said Chitauro. – The Chronicle
