Team Profile: Meet the Bright Starlets of South Sudan

    Preview

    Out of the 12 teams, South Sudan is the only one participating in the tournament for the first time.

    JUBA (South Sudan) - In just four years, the men’s basketball team from South Sudan has taken Africa by storm. Can their female counterparts replicate this astonishing success? It's a legitimate question that many ask.

    Unlike the men, who are currently ranked No. 1 in Africa, the Bright Starlet women are headed to their first Women’s AfroBasket as the No. 13 team. They are ranked one spot above Guinea, the lowest-ranked team competing in Côte d'Ivoire.

    Earlier in the year, South Sudan finished third in the Zone 5 Women’s AfroBasket qualifiers thanks to wins over Kenya and Burundi. However, losses to the eventual winners, Uganda and Egypt, meant that South Sudan would only qualify for the African Championships with a wildcard, as confirmed by FIBA Africa.

    Adut Bulgak averaged 12.6 points and 10.2 points in five qualifiers games early this year.

    This will be South Sudan’s debut at Women’s AfroBasket.

    The team debuted in the zonal competition at the 2021 edition in Kigali, Rwanda, where they were winless.

    At the next competition in Kampala, Uganda, in 2023, they recorded their first win against Rwanda (54–40) and finished fourth.

    A trio of players — Delicia Washington, Adut Bulgak, and Nyamuoch Teny — led South Sudan in the stats charts, and they are expected to play pivotal roles at Abidjan 2025.

    The team is currently coached by Spaniard Alberto Antúnez, who led Uganda to a seventh-place finish at the 2023 Women’s AfroBasket tournament. Antuna later led Senegal in the 2024 Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgium.

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