ALEXANDRIA (Egypt) -  Nigerian Customs had to dig deep for a 67-58 win against Cameroon's Overdose Up Station to move closer to a Fifth-Place finish.

Meanwhile, Equity Bank had a much easier match against another Cameroonian side, Universite de Doula (UDLA), playing for a 75-54 victory. 

The two winners meet on the final day of action to determine the fifth-placed team in the 10-team Africa Women's Basketball League (AWBL). 

A closely fought first quarter saw Customs lead 18-17 but had a huge second quarter that ended 23-11 to carry a 13-point advantage to the locker rooms. 

Roger Dassi's charges, however, mounted a comeback in the third, scoring 10 in the opening five minutes of the third period while restricting Customs to three and added 14 more in the closing five of the third to tie the score at 52.

Customs, however, managed to bold on with a 15-6 performance in the final period for the win. 

"Our biggest problem is inconsistency. In some matches, we start energetic then fade away like we did today and in others, it is the opposite. We have to work on that before the final match. A fifth place after over two decades of no continental competition will mean a lot for the team and I hope we can come out and compete," coach Abdelrahman Mohammed said after the match. 

EQUITY EASY PAST UNIVERSITE DE DOUALA

Equity Bank, who played the first classification of the day against the varsity side, took a two-point lead in the opening five minutes of the game, a lead they extended to seven as the period ended 18-11.  

A second quarter 19-12 performance saw the Benson Oluoch-led side head to the break with a 14-point advantage at 37-23.

A 17-11 third quarter sealed the win for the Kenyan side as a final quarter score of 21-20 in favour of the Cameroonians did little to change the final result as Oluovh's charges won by 21. 

Judith Pantaleo had another good game, putting up 13 points, 9 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 block, scoring 8 in the first half to lead the side's offense as Melissa Otieno and Vetty Kananu added 12 and 11 respectively for the win. 

Cynthia Amayaba and Larissa Mbong led the numbers for UDLA with 14 and 10 respectively.  

"We came a bit aggressive as UDLA are physical so our strategy was to pick the rebounds and capitalise on our size advantage and I am happy the players followed instructions and executed well," Equity assistant coach Betty Samba said. 

Despite the win, ball handling continues to be the bankers' Achilles heel as the side turned the ball over 35 times with UDLA scoring 25 from that, a statistic Samba attributes to how physical the teams competing are. 

"Some of our players are not used to the physicality and are struggling with taking care of the ball. In the next match we will have to improve on that as well as our decision-making while on offense," she offered adding that the team came here to rebuild and targeted a top-six finish which they have achieved. 

Equity Bank Hawks and Customs return to action Tuesday to determine the fifth-placed team of the inaugural AWBL.

FIBA