Eight-time National Basketball League champions City Oilers were in demolition mode on Friday beating Power 106-49 in a one-sided game played at the MTN Arena in Lugogo.

The champions held Power to a layup by Elvis Ssentongointhe first quarter as they ran away to a 21-2 lead after the opening ten minutes and the writing was on the wall.

Luak Ruai top-scored with 23 points,  Fayed Baale shot 6-for-10 from three to garner 20 points while Jimmy Enabu (14), Michael Ngut (13), Ivan Muhwezi (11) and Lual (10) also scored in double figures.

Only Isaac Afidra (11 points) and Samad Imran (11) scored in double figures for Power.

In the women’s division, KCCA Leopards started their season with a deserved 63-58 win over JKL Lady Dolphins.

Ruth Atuheire led the way for Leopards with 15 points and 8 rebounds as KCCA made it. clear they will compete for the title.

Peace Nakirijja, playing for the first time since 2019 when she left JKL, was also outstanding for KCCA with 13 points while veteran Martha Soigi had 9 points and 11 rebounds, Linda Martha Nakalembe collected 10 points.

Hope Akello managed a game-high 16 points and 9 rebounds in a losing effort and Flavia Oketcho scored 10 points.

Results | Friday, March 24

• JKL Lady Dolphins 58-63 KCCA Leopards
• Power 49-106 City Oilers

Fixtures | Saturday, March 25 (YMCA, Wandegeya)

• UCU Lady Canons Vs Kampala University Ladies, 10am
• Nkumba Lady Marines Vs JT Lady Jaguars, 12pm
• UPDF Tomahawks Vs Kampala Rockets, 2pm
• Namuwongo Blazers Vs JKL Dolphins, 4pm
• KIU Titans Vs Rezlife Saints, 6pm

KIU Rangers started the Women’s National Basketball League at the MTN Arena in Lugogo with a bang, registering a comprehensive 81-57 win over Angels.

Rangers led 25-16 at the end of the first quarter and never looked back en route to a 24-point victory.

Rising star Mary Amaniyo, a student at St Mary’s SS Kitende, led the scoring for KIU with 16 points while Sharon Kirabo and Diana Letaru contributed 12 points each.

Former Magic Stormer Rachael Nanyonga scored 11 points on her Rangers league debut and all Rangers players were on the scoresheet including new signings Stella Nanfuka, Brenda Ayere and Shadiah Mbwali save for diminutive guard Fildauce Namuleme.,

Catherine Amusugut and Elizabeth Agut scored 15 and 10 points respectively for Angels.

In the men’s game that followed, Ndejje University Angels got the better of UCU Canons 64-55 thanks to Marshel Okech’s game-high 24 points.

Peter Sifuma scored 18 points to go with as many rebounds for the Canons. Kevin Kasobya (10 points) also scored in double figures for UCU.

Wednesday, 22nd March | Results

• Women: KIU Rangers 81-57 Angels
• Men: UCU Canons 55-64 Ndejje Angels

The Federation of Uganda Basketball Associations (FUBA) Competition Council released the first-round fixture for the 2023 National Basketball League.

The season will tip-off on Sunday, 19th March after a week-long delay due to said works at the MTN Arena in Lugogo as the National Council of Sports (NCS) communicated earlier.

The first round will end on 23rd May 2023.

In the highlight games of the opening day, eight-time champions City Oilers face KIU Titans in the men’s opener while in the Women’s division, champions UCU Lady Canons and JKL Lady Dolphins meet in a repeat of last year’s final.

Following the off-season business, Titans have fronted themselves as the new challengers to Oilers’ throne after signing players like Amisi Saidi and Innocent Ochera.

The first game of the season will see young and exciting Magic Stormer take on Miracle, Power will then take the floor against newcomers Rez Life Saints.

Ndejje University will face off with KCCA Panthers before. the highlight games of the opening day.

Abja Parks in Naalya (now the home of Nam Blazers) alongside Lugogo, YMCA and UCU (Mukono) are the venues for the games.

Opening Day Fixtures

Sunday, March 19th (Indoor Arena, Lugogo)

• Magic Stormers vs Miracle Eaglets, 10am
• Power vs Rez Life Saints, 12 noon
• Ndejje vs KCCA Panthers, 2pm
• UCU Lady Canons vs JKL Lady Dolphins, 4pm
• KIU Titans vs City Oilers, 6pm

Nasser Sserunjogi was re-elected as the Federation of Uganda Basketball (FUBA) President during the federation’s elective Annual General Meeting held Saturday at Hotel Africana.

Sserunjogi got 39 votes and beat Gordon Gumisiriza (16) to retain the federation’s top seat for the second term.

The other contested post was the Women’s Commissioner. Racheal Atuhairwe Ainamasiko garnered 36 votes to beat Mariam Birungi to the position.

Hudson Ssegamwenge (Vice President – Administration), Aggrey Mbonye (Vice President -Finance) and Arnold Katabi (Vice President – Marketing) maintained their seats.

Patricia Ayebare and Mande Baker Kyambadde were also unopposed on the posts of Youths Commissioner and Vice President -Technical and Competitions respectively.

Atuhairwe, Ayebare and Kyambadde are the three new members of the executive.

Full Fuba Executive

• President – Nasser Sserunjogi
• VP Administration – Hudson Ssegamwenge
• VP Technical – Baker Kyambadde
• VP Finance – Aggrey Mbonye
• VP Marketing, Media & Publicity – Arnold Katabi
• Commissioner For Women – Rachel Atuhairwe Ainamasiko
• Commissioner for Youth – Patricia Ayebare

Jane Asinde produced a top performance as eighth-seeded Wichita State recorded the biggest win in American Athletic Conference Championship history.

The Shockers upset top seed the University of South Florida, 65-53, on Tuesday in the quarterfinals to advance to the semifinals of the championship for the first time in school history.

The Shockers held USF to 19-of-60 from the field (32%) and just 4-of-22 from beyond the arc.

The Shockers came out firing on all cylinders to open the game as they started 7-of-8 from the field to build a 14-4 lead, while South Florida missed its first seven field goal attempts.

Seven first-quarter points from Asinde and a stingy defence saw Wichita State lead 15-8 after the opening quarter and never looked back.

Asinde scored a game-high 20 points on 6-of-11 shooting to go with eight rebounds while Curtessia Dean scored 11 of her 14 points in the second half.

Samaryah Duncan (9 points), DJ McCarty (8 points) and Daniela Abies (6 points) came in handy on the day. The Shockers will face No. 4 Houston today for a spot in the championship game.

Last season’s National Basketball League runners-up JKL Lady Dolphins have added three players ahead of the 2023 season.

Small forward Agatha Kamwada from UCU Lady Canons, Leticia Awor and Becky Longom both from KCCA Leopards are the three players that have joined the Lady Dolphins.

The trio was part of the Gazelles provisional squad for the recently concluded Zone V Women’s AfroBasket Qualifiers at the MTN Arena in Lugogo.

Awor was part of the final squad. She averaged 7 points and 4 rebounds last season for the Leopards.

Kamwada was instrumental last season with the title-winning Lady Canons, helping the Mukono side dethrone JKL to win the League.

If the stars from last season like Flavia Oketcho, Brenda Ekone, Hope Akello, Rita Imanishimwe and Evelyn Nakiyinji stay, JKL will be in the hunt for the title again.

JT Jaguars and KIU Titans are winners of the 2023 UCU Invitational Basketball tournament that climaxed on Sunday in Mukono.

Inspired by seasoned campaigners Zainah Lokwameri, Rhodah Nagita, Sarah Ageno, Maimuna Nabbosa, and Muhayimina Namuwaya, Jaguars who gained promotion to the National Basketball League last year beat league champions UCU Lady Canons.

The Lady Canons are going through a rebuild having lost among others Agatha Kamwada, Nabbosa, and Rose Akon who completed their studies at the university.

Jaguars head coach Jeff Omondi will take victory at the pre-season tournament as a stepping stone as he looks to make the team challenge for the league title on the first time of asking.

Meanwhile, KIU Titans put up a strong fourth-quarter performance en route to a 55-44 win over UCU Canons in the men’s final.

New signing Innocent Ochera was the star of the show hitting five three-pointers in a game Titans were red-hot from outside the arc. Edgar Munaba also had a good game under the lights.

UCU got major contributions from rising and entertaining guard Jimmy Otim as well as centre Joel Kayiira who will be playing his first season in the top flight.

KIU Titans head coach Julius Lutwama who has assembled a championship-contending team go to see what his group can produce and he will be happy with what he saw in the pre-season tournament.

Uganda Men’s National Basketball Team (Silverbacks) lost to Guinea 88-47 in their last game of the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup Qualifiers.

Going into Sunday’s game, the Silverbacks had lost to Angola (82-49) and Ivory Coast (89-44) earlier.

Like the game against Angola, Uganda went toe-to-toe with Guinea in the first half but later ran out of steam as the game progressed and in the fourth quarter, they scored just two points.

Guinea benefited from Uganda’s poor display in the second half to top the game.

Cheick Sekou did the biggest damage to Uganda, shooting 10-of-14 from the field for a game-high 25 points to go with 10 rebounds. Ibrahim Fofana scored 11 points.

For the Silverbacks, it was Titus Lual (12 points) and Ceaser Kizito (10 points) who scored in double figures while forward James Okello finished with 8 points and 9 rebounds.

The Silverbacks end the campaign with just one win (against Cape Verde) in 10 games and bottom of Group E.

Cape Verde beat Cote d’Ivoire 79-64 in the last game to book the last and fifth African qualification slot to the World Cup.

Angola, Cote d’Ivoire, Egypt, and South Sudan are the other African nations that qualified for the World Cup in the Philippines, Japan, and Indonesia scheduled for 25th August to 10th September 2023.

Uganda Silverbacks suffered an 82-49 defeat to Angola as the last window of the FIBA Basketball World Cup 2023 Qualifiers got underway in Luanda.

The Silverbacks, made up of nine home-based players, had no preparations prior to the three-day event and arrived in Angola on Game Day but gave a very good account in the first half of the game.

Neither team could find the basket in the opening three minutes of the first quarter but later the game opened up and Angola had a 10-point (19-9) lead at the end of the period.

The Silverbacks started the second quarter strong and took the lead (23-21) midway through the period through Peter Pbleng’s pair of free throws before the hosts regrouped to lead 34-28 going into the halftime break.

On return from the long interval, the short-handed Silverbacks were put under immense pressure with the man-to-man and full-court press that Angola employed defensively and the wheels started to fall off.

The Silverbacks were forced into nine turnovers in the third quarter and limited to just 10 points as Angola took charge of the game the rest of the way.

Fayed Baale scored a team-high 15 points for Uganda and Peter Obleng had an efficient 11 points off the bench in 17 minutes.

Childe Dundao (16 points), Gerson Goncalves (12) and Antonio Monteiro (10) scored in double figures for Angola who got at least 3 points from all the 12 players that stepped on the floor.

The Silverbacks will play Cote d’Ivoire on Saturday before completing their schedule against Guinea on Sunday.

Melissa Akullu scooped two major awards in the Golden State Athletic Conference (GSAC) as she took home both the Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

The Ugandan centre dominated on both ends of the floor throughout the season, becoming the 11th Vanguard player to be named Player of the Year. Akullu was the only GSAC player to average a double-double at 18.2 points and 11.1 rebounds per game.

She led the conference in rebounds and field goal percentage (58.5) while ranking fourth in scoring (18.2 ppg), tied for sixth in steals (2.0 spg) and fifth in blocks (1.0 big).

Akullu produced 14 double-doubles, including a career-high 40-point and 14-rebound effort that helped garner her NAIA National Player of the Week accolades in late January. She pulled down a career-best 21 rebounds in a win over Jessup on 1st December.

Akullu scored 20-plus points on 11 occasions and poured in 30-plus three times. She collected four GSAC Player of the Week awards – second-most all-time in one season at Vanguard University.

Her 286 total rebounds ranks at No. 8 on the school’s single-season list, and her .585 field goal percentage places her ninth. Defensively, she menaced opposing players, tallying four or more steals in six games.

The postseason for Akullu and Vanguard, the No. 2 seed in the GSAC Tournament, starts on Friday, 24th February against either third-seeded Menlo or No. 6 Arizona Christian in semifinal action.