Monday, September 2

Group A

Rwanda 102-37 South Africa

Star Shooting guard Brigitte Nibishaka scored a game high 25 points to fire Rwanda to a resounding 102-37 victory over hosts South Africa in the opening game of the FIBA U-18 Women's AfroBasket held at University of Pretoria on Monday, September 2.

The Rwandan youth team put up a commanding performance from the word go, overwhelming their South African opponents in almost every aspect of the game, from shooting to rebounding or making steals.

Nibishaka and her compatriots including Yvonne Muhawenimana and Vanessa Prissy Camara were on a scoring galore as Rwanda finished the first half with a massive 47-17 lead, to make it so hard for the home side to even think of a comeback.

Not much changed in the second half, as the Rwandans won the third and fourth quarters convincingly 29-12 and 26-8 respectively to seal their first victory in style.

Besides Nibishaka’s top scoring, Camara added 22 points, while Muhawenimana contributed 19 points on Rwanda’s winning cause.

Leah Fourholm topped South Africa’s scoring with 9 points whereas Ntokozo Thonga contributed 8.

"I thank my players, they performed very well in this game. They executed the instructions that I gave them. We are going to prepare for the second game. We will face Tunisia which is a great team,” Rwanda U18 women head coach Jacques Bahige told Times Sport after the game.

After the impressive performance against South Africa, Rwanda will be up against Tunisia in what promises to be a tougher test on September 5.