ALEXANDRIA (Egypt) - Home team, Alexandria Sporting Club (ASC) will play in the Africa Women’s Basketball League (AWBL) Final for a chance to be back-to-back continental title holders. 

The side picked a 100-74 victory against Angola's Inter Clube in the second Semi-Final of the day to book a date with Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the first ever AWBL Championship match. 

This match-up was a repeat of last year's Semi-Final in the Africa Champions Cup for Women where the Egyptians won 100-82 on their way to lifting the title. 

"Playing against Inter Clube was not going to be easy so we had to be well prepared as they have been one of the best teams in the continental competitions and have very good players. We had to give ourselves a good start and after that was achieved in the opening two quarters it was easier to play for the win," ASC tacticianMohamed Abdelrahman said after the match. 

The Adelrahman-coached side took a slim 9-7 lead in a low-scoring first five minutes of the match with Destiny Pitts shooting from behind the arc for 14-11 as the hosts added 9 more while restricting the Angolans to 5 for a 23-16 lead.

Reem Moussa's fadeaway jumper got action going in the second stanza to give ASC a 25-16 lead before Inter Clube made a 7-point rally, five from Lucas and a basket for Jessica Malagi to cut the deficit to two at 25-23. 

Hagar Amer and Cierra Dillard were highly involved as ASC made another run for a 33-27 lead in the opening five minutes of the quarter.

Nadir Manuel brought Inter Clube close again at 35-31 but that was all the fight left for the Angolan side as the hosts ran rings around them for 18-5 in the remaining minutes to lead 53-36 in the opening half.

A 21- 9 run in opening five minutes of the second half for ASC, added to Inter Clube's misery as they found themselves trailing by 29, with an almost impossible mission for a comeback in the remaining 15 minutes of the clash. 

The third quarter ended 29-17 in favour of  Adelrahman's charges and it meant little that Elisa Pires' charges were competitive in the final period that ended  21-18 on their favour.

"We obviously did not get the result we wanted. We knew we had to stop ASC's three-point shooting which we tried but we failed in the other areas, allowing them to score 50 on the paint. We also gave away the ball alot and that saw them punish us with fast breaks. Overall, we did not play our game," coach Pires offered. 

ASC face KPA in the final, in what will be a repeat of the final Group A match that saw the former pick a 102- 77 convincing victory.

FIBA