CAIRO (Egypt) - American point guard Aliyah Matharu lived up to expectations, leading ASC Ville de Dakar (ASCD) to a 78-71 opening victory against the star-studded APR.
Her 34-minute display in her WBLA debut could not have been more impressive.
I'm looking forward to the rest of the competition - Aliyah Matharu
The former star player of the Baylor Bears was unstoppable. She attacked the basket, grabbed rebounds and created shooting opportunities for her teammates, while disrupting APR's offensive play on numerous occasions.
Matharu shot 9-for-21 from the floor to finish with an impressive 22 points. She also grabbed 5 rebounds, dished out 5 assists, blocked 2 shots and made 4 steals in her outstanding debut in the Women's Basketball League Africa (WBLA).
The Senegalese champions, ASC Ville de Dakar, had Matharu to thank for their victory over the league leaders, APR.
Her defensive rebound for a quick put back in the opening minute of the second quarter got ASCD's comeback underway. The side leveled the score at 30 off the free throw line and it was game on, the Senegalese going on to lead 45-42 at halftime.
Two other Matharu's teammates - Aminata Ndong and Couna Ndao - scored in double figures, finishing with 16 and 12 points, respectively.
Ndong was a rebound shy of a double-double.
Italee Lucas, Destiney Philoxy and Kamba Diakite combined for 44 APR points, but its bench was outscored 24-11.
The game belonged to Matharu and Co who secured the important win.
Talking to FIBA.basketball, Aliyah Matharu said: "This was my first time to play African basketball and while the coach had prepared me for the physicality, I got to experience it. It was a good match up and I'm looking forward to the rest of the competition." She continued: "Our approach was having good defense, play together, move the ball and find the open person while playing hard on defense. We wanted to come out and make a statement defensively we have been working on and we did a good job at that. Today I overshot but the coach has given us the green light for that, which is very comforting as not many coaches do that. A 42 percent from the field [9-for-21] is pretty high for a professional but I will try to shoot better in the coming games."
FIBA