LUANDA (Angola) - The FIBA Africa Champions Cup for Women 2022, which tips off next week in Maputo, Mozambique, emerges as a new opportunity for Inter Clube de Luanda to bounce back from recent disappointment in the African basketball scene.

Over the past couple of months the Angolan champions have been preparing to attack the continent crown, which they last won in 2016.

From 2010 until the last edition of the FIBA Africa Champions Cup for Women in 2019, Inter Club won the tournament a record five times, making the Angolan National Police funded club the most successful on the continent of Africa.

However, Ferroviario de Maputo have become Inter Clube's stiffer challenger in recent times, having beaten the Angolan outfit twice in the last editions of the tournament. First in Maputo in 2018, before doing it again in 2019 in Cairo.

How did a club that dominate the game on the continent has been pushed aside is a question that Inter Clube have struggled to find answer to.

Not even the signing Astou Traore - of one of Africa's finest - helped Inter Clube's cause in 2019.

One thing is for certain, Inter Clube are headed to Maputo to restore their glory days, and this is reflected on the way with which they built their current squad.

Spaniard Julian Martinez, who coached Mozambique at the 2019 FIBA Women's AfroBasket, is currently at the helm of Inter Clube.

And he made sure to keep the core of the team, which includes dependable Italee Lucas, and a group of Angolan internationals such as Nadir Manuel, Rosa Gala and Luisa Tomas.

In recent days, Inter Clube signed Alexis Tolefree and Sherise Williams.

Point guard Tolefree plays internationally for Kosovo.  In 2021 European Championship for Small Countries in Cyprus, the 1.78m guard led her country in scoring with 19.3 points per game while averaging 2.3 assists. She played college basketball at University of Arkansas. 2018-2020.

Alexis Tolefree

Williams, on the other hand, is a 29-year-old 1.88m (6ft 2in) power forward/center who played college basketball for Mississippi State University.

Over the past few years, Willimans took her career to a number of European countries, including Greece, Italy, Slovakia, Hungary. 

In the 2019-2020, Williams featured for Slovakian side MBK Ruzomberok in the FIBA EuropCup Women. 

Inter Clube de Luanda, who haven't missed any of the last ten editions of the FIBA Africa Champions Cup for Women earned their spot in the Maputo showdown as winners of the Angolan Championship. 

FIBA