Madagascar bow to Mali 46-80

Antananarivo (FIBA Africa Championship for Women) Host of the 21st FIBA Africa Championship for Women; Madagascar Friday bid farewell to the championship as it lost to defending champion, Mali in the quarter-final by 80-46 points.

Mali open up a big 30-12 points lead in the first quarter but the Madagascan backed by a large turn out of fans took the second with a slim 15-14 points for a half-time score of 44-27 points.

The defending champion rather adopted a cautious approach at the resumption of play in the third quarter allowing the Madagascan to have some grate moment with scores ending at 12 points apiece at the end of the quarter with Mali going into the last quarter with a 56-39 point’s advantage:

The defending champion who was not prepared to be caught napping opened up a big lead from in the fourth quarter thus dashing the hope of any come back by the host whose fans were unrelenting in their support. The quarter however ended by 24-07 points in favour of the defending champion:

Mali forward Djene Diawara led the floor with a double double of 14 rebounds; 10 points and 3 assists; Mariam Sy hit another double double for the defending champion with 12 points and 12 rebounds while the trio of Nassira Traore; Naignouma Coulibaly and Aminata Sininta contributed 14; 11 and 10 points respectively to lift their country into the semi-finals where they will square up against Angola on Saturday.

FIBA Africa