BEIRA (FIBA U16 Women’s African Championship 2017) – Mali maintained their impressive unbeaten streak at the ongoing FIBA U16 Women's African Championship after defeating hosts Mozambique 76-33 on Tuesday at the Ferroviario da Beira Stadium. 

Aissetou Coulibaly dropped an incredible 27 points, picking 4 rebounds, 3 steals and made 2 assists to inspire Mali to a third straight victory at the biennial continental competition.

The 15-year old is already averaging 21.5 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.2 assists at this tournament, a statistic that has impressed Mali head coach Sidiya Oumarou. 

"Aissetou did very well today, however, we work as a team. It is always a collective effort. Mozambique was not an easy team as is always the case with the hosts but we managed to break away early enough and establish a good lead."- Oumarou

"We want to win the trophy and defend our title. That is our objective and so far winning all our three games means that we are on the right track," he added. 

Teammates Diarrah Issa Ssisoko and Sika Kone added 17 and 12 points apiece as Mali confirmed their place at the top of the table standings and therefore a place in the Semi-Finals.

Oumarou explained that, "Aissetou did very well today, however, we work as a team. It is always a collective effort. Mozambique was not an easy team as is always the case with the hosts but we managed to break away early enough and establish a good lead."

Meanwhile, despite losing all their four games, debutants Zimbabwe will leave the biennial event with pride that they pioneered their nation’s cause.

A 52-29 loss to Angola who claimed a Third-Place finish in 2015 wrapped up their journey but Clement Kufeketa's side will return home as an improved team. 

With less than a month of training to prepare for the Mozambique showpiece, Zimbabwe found themselves on the deprived path of failure even before their first game. 

"It has been a learning journey for us as a team. We shall take the lessons from this tournament and hope to build on this hereafter. It has been a great experience both for the players and I."

"What we have to do is to keep this group of players because if we keep them together then we shall be able to build a strong team for the future. If we can also return to this tournament next time then we shall be on the right path of development," Kufeketa said.

Maria Mutengo and Tadiwa Mabika have been a shining light for Zimbabwe and were their highest points scorers with an average of 8.8 and 8.5 points per game over their four games in that order, an impressive statistic for the 16-year old girls that they will be pleased with on an individual level.

With their four losses, Zimbabwe are out of the week-long competition and automatically Angola, Egypt, Mali and Mozambique qualify for the Semi-Finals. 

The Finalists will qualify for the FIBA U17 Women's World Cup 2018 in Minsk, Belarus.

FIBA