ABIDJAN (Côte d'Ivoire) - Maria Teresa Gakdeng was the star of the show as South Sudan's Bright Starlets played for a dream debut victory in their Women's AfroBasket, coming back from a winless Group Phase campaign to stun Egypt, 75-65 and advance.
The 22-year-old, Hungary-based, center did not just lead the debutants to a maiden victory, in the competition and against Egypt, she helped them reach the Last Eight in their first time of asking, while breaking a decade-long record in the process. She is featuring for the Starlets for the first time as well.
"It’s unacceptable for one South Sudan player to have twelve offensive rebounds. This is not okay. " - Elshaarawy said.
Coming into the clash, the former North Carolina Tar Heels' big man had managed eight points in each of their two losses to Mali (55-53) and Cameroon (70-63), adding nine and four rebounds respectively.
Nothing, however, could have prepared the 3,500-seater Palais des Sports Treichville arena for the version of Gakdeng unleashed against Egypt in the Round of 16, as the squad chased history.
First, she had a quiet first half, scoring eight points while making a bit of noise on the boards with 11, in just over 18 minutes.
South Sudan struggled to contain their Egypt, to trail by as many as 19. The Egyptian had employed a man defense that was proving problematic, but the locker room chat addressed their misgivings convincingly.
"In the second half, we just had to come together. We were down by almost 20 points. We stepped up our defense, controlled Raneem Elgedawy, who had 20 points in the first half, grabbed more rebounds, and pulled it through. We knew it was now or never. We had to bring a different mindset or go home," Gakdeng said about the win.
And then it happened! With the Bright Starlets trailing 44-30, Gakdeng and Rose Macuei led the side in a 24-12 rally, in the third quarter, scoring six a piece, to bring their side two points (56-54) off the North Africans.
Even Egypt forward Hala Elshaarawy admitted that Gakdeng's performance hurt their chances of progressing in the tournament. "It’s unacceptable for one South Sudan player to have twelve offensive rebounds. This is not okay," Elshaarawy said.
In the fourth she continued cleaning the boards, finishing with a record 24, (and 19 points) the highest tally in the last decade. She broke Gabon's Geraldine Robert's mark of 23, against South Africa at the 2015 Women’s AfroBasket in Yaounde.
Since then the highest numbers have come off Cristina Matiquite of Angola who posted 19 two years ago in Kigali and Naignouma Coulibaly of Mali with 17 in 2017.
"We lost our first two games by a few points, but we always knew we were capable of winning. No one expected this win, which is why it means so much to us. Another win is what comes next for South Sudan," she added, focusing on the team's victory rather than her individual brilliance.
As fate would have it, the Alberto Antuna-coached side will face Uganda, another Zone Five derby, in the quarterfinals. They have lost to their neighbours 74-53 and 83-69 in the 2023 and 2025 qualifiers. What's more, the tactician coached the Ugandan side enroute their seventh-place finish in 2023.
Can the debutants cause one more upset to reach the semis? Uganda should watch out!
FIBA