Zenith Bank WBL: First Deepwater, Customs, Bounce Back

After conceding to a rare defeat to AHIP on Tuesday morning First Deepwater bounced back to winning ways yesterday at the ongoing Zenith Bank Women Basketball League in Asaba. First Deepwater defeated Immigration Basketball Club 44-33 to leave the fourth day of the series in the Delta State capital with smiles.

Custom also defeated Zamfara Babes 70-50 while the IGP Queens crushed FCT Angels 69-39. Coal City Queens lost 28-45 to Benue Princess.

Coach Peter Ahmedu of First Bank Basketball Club who watched most of the games played yesterday commended the standard of the Second Phase of the Zenith Bank Basketball League,

“From proceeding here, I believe that most teams have improved greatly since the first phase in Abuja. The games are closely-fought and we have recorded an upset already with GT 2000 beating Customs.

“In the game involving Dolphins and Customs, the Border Girls gave a good fight despite losing to the defending champions. With developments like this, the competitiveness, which was lacking in the league, is gradually returning,” reasoned Ahmedu.

The Elephant Girls coach said his team has been able to maintain high standard and win with wide margin because it got to Asaba about two weeks before the league dunked off, which gave his players the opportunity to train and get used to the court, which he termed as substandard.

“With what I have seen here, I am happy that we got Asaba early to acclimatise and get use to the court and the environment. I am happy that the owners of the team, First Bank PLC have always supported ideas that will put the team in a good position to excel. I hope our performance will propel us to the title,” he added.
He however blamed the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) for opting for Asaba for the second phase of the women’s league.

“I must chide the NBBF for bring the league to Asaba. The upright board is made of wood as against fibre, which is approved by FIBA. There are other venues that have fibre uprights where they could have taken this phase of the league to. This is taking us back after we enjoyed tremendous time in Abuja,” reasoned Ahmedu.