CAIRO (Egypt) - Hosts Sporting Alexandria and Al Ahly started their title campaigns on a high note registering comfortable wins in their opening matches on Friday evening at the Cairo Indoor Stadium.

Sporting completely dominated the game from the onset leading 37-8 at the end of the first quarter much to the despair of Energie from Benin who were punished for their complacency on offense. 

"IT FEELS GOOD THAT WE WON OUR FIRST GAME. IT IS A MESSAGE TO THE OTHER TEAMS THAT WE CAME HERE TO WIN. WE PLAYED AS A TEAM BECAUSE THIS IS IMPORTANT IN BASKETBALL IF YOU WANT TO WIN."- Amer

Shawnta Tiara Dyer set the tone for the Egyptian side with eight points and five rebounds before she suffered an ankle injury on her right foot. 

Hagar Amer picked up from where she left off to record an impressive double double with 13 points and 11 rebounds while Gina Hamed, Asrar Bakr and D'Asia Chambers added 18, 16 and 10 points in that order. 

Amer was dominant on both ends of the court

Sporting head coach Amr Ashour could even afford to sit down and smile ear-to-ear as his players went about their business performing the simple basics of the hoops game. 

He will, however, be worried that they failed to stop Energie's Ivorian pair with Djefarima Diawara registering 24 points and 14 rebounds while Mariama Kouyate scored 20 points and picked 11 rebounds. 

In total, Sporting picked 69 rebounds as compared to Energie's 45 but it is the latter's efficiency that will give them a sleepless night. Energie's efficiency sits at a worrying 32, a far cry away from Sporting's 140. 

Speaking to FIBA.basketball, Amer said, "It feels good that we won our first game. It is a message to the other teams that we came here to win. We played as a team because this is important in basketball if you want to win."

Meanwhile, Kelsey Mitchell sunk a game high 23 points, made four assists and picked two rebounds to inspire Al Ahly to their first victory at the continental tournament. 

Degheidy was unstoppable today

FAP from Cameroon struggled to contain the front court trio of Shaquilla Nunn, Hala Elshaarawy and Nouralla Abdelalim who dominated the paint on both ends of the court to combine for 25 rebounds and 17 points.

Their wide span on defense may not be reflected on the statistics sheet but their visual presence counted much for FAP's struggles in trying to get to the hoop. The latter were forced to try outside shots and managed just to convert thrice from 25 attempts behind the arc. 

Two other players Soraya Degheidy and Nunn added 18 and 14 points respectively on an evening that set the tone and expounded on their intent to win the title ultimately. 

Aly Ahmed's team played with such class that it was clear from the beginning that they were the better team leading 24-10 at the end of the first quarter. 

A 42-18 lead at the half time break was enough to send the home crowd into early celebration after they sensed that their team had the upper hand and as much as basketball is unpredictable, this looked like it would be a one-sided game. 

Al Ahly fans had a field day in the stands

FAP returned with a spirited fight in the third quarter to challenge Al Ahly 20-21 but Al Ahly held on strong to win the game eventually. 

Egyptian fans will head home content with what they saw today and will be hoping that both their teams remain focused and win their remaining games. Sporting top Group A while Al Ahly have an early lead in Group B.  

FIBA