MAPUTO (FIBA U18 Women’s African Championship 2018)  - Mozambique survived a Rwanda scare to secure their second straight win at the ongoing FIBA U18 Women's African Championship while Egypt knocked off Cape Verde to clinch their first win.

Mozambique made one unexpected comeback after trailing for most of the game to punch a 53-46 victory. As a result, they now sit on top of Group A.

Everything was set for a grand game and when Mozambique took a 13-1 lead at the end of the first quarter, they thought it was all done.

However, Rwanda's Bella Murekatete  and her teammates were not ready to give up easily as they took a 19-17 advantage at half-time.

Mozambique captain Ester Gomes and her teammates had then to patiently wait for their time to shine. Bit by bit, they gnawed back at Rwanda with an advantage sometimes getting as close as three points behind.

With their fans' support and some cool-headed coaching, they finally got control of the game in the last quarter.

They showed a new facet of the game with 26 points netted as well as an excellent defensive system.

"It would not have been possible without our fans," acknowledged Gomes, who came up with a game high 16 points.

"We are very proud of  winning this game for our fans. We wanted to give them back what they gave us during this game."

Now, a tough test awaits Mozambique as they will take on Egypt in two days time.

"This is going to be a big test as Egypt is one of the heavyweights in this tournament," Gomes said.

Mozambique have their eyes set on one of the two slots available for African teams for the FIBA U19 Women's World Cup 2019 and Gomes emphasised that they are focused on this target.

"Everyone on the team is concentrated on that goal."

Earlier in the day, Egypt had an easy run against Cape Verde. The Junior Pharaohs managed to seal a 56-31 victory.

Even though the islanders lost their second game in a row, Joseana Vaz emerged as the highest points scorer with yet another 18 points to her stat sheet.

Group B teams will be in action on Monday. Titleholders Mali will face off pugnacious Uganda in the first game and Angola will square off against Democratic Republic of Congo.

FIBA