CAIRO (Egypt) - The 2025 WBLA Group Phase concluded on Wednesday paving way for the knockout stages, with the Quarter-Finals set for Friday.
Hosts Al Ahly Sporting Club, defending champions Ferroviario de Maputo and last year's semi-finalists ASC Ville de Dakar topped Groups A, B and C respectively, qualifying for the Last Eight unbeaten.
Rwanda Energy Group (REG), who were semi-finalists in 2023, finished behind the hosts. Former silver medallists Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) placed second behind the title holders, while reigning bronze medallists Armee Patriotique Rwandaise (APR) came second behind the Senegalese champions, ASC Ville de Dakar.
Completing the last eight are Sporting Clube de Luanda and Congo DR's CNSS, who came third in Groups A and C with 1–2 runs.
Friend's Basketball Association (Cote d'Ivoire), FAP (Cameroon) and Bravehearts (Malawi) finished 0-3 each.
Here's what we learned from the 2025 WBLA Group Phase:
18 games
From the start of the 2025 WBLA in Cairo, Egypt on 5 December until the final two Group Phase games on Wednesday 10 December, the twelve teams played a total of 18 games.
Games are streamed live on FIBA's Youtube Channel.
Highest scoring game
APR's 92-37 win over debutants Bravehearts of Malawi was the highest scoring game of the preliminaries, also producing the biggest winning margin of 55 points. Two other sides, Al Ahly Sporting Club and Ferroviario de Maputo have scored 91.
Closest winning margin
In their opening Group A clash with debutants Sporting Clube de Luanda, Rwandese champions REG came back from a 12-point deficit to clutch the game 67-64. Kayana Traylor and Kristina King led the side's comeback victory with 20 and 12 points respectively.
Lowest scoring game
Two-time champions First Bank of Nigeria, making a return to the continental showpiece after a six-year absence, raced to a 58-52 victory over Cameroon's FAP, in a game teenage sensation Wandoo Marvis Hembam starred, scoring 12 including a game-deciding three point shot.
Kayana Traylor sets 2025 scoring record
American guard, Traylor, on debut in this competition, led REG to an 81-53 victory, dropping a spectacular 7-for-12 from deep, adding four on the paint while converting all her five free throws to finish with more than a third of her sides points, the highest tally in the 2025 competition so far, at 34.
Her record was threatened on Wednesday by ASC Ville de Dakar's guard Aliyah Matharu, also in her debut, as she led her side to victory against Bravehearts, shooting 12-for-26 from the field, including two from deep in ten attempts, while converting seven from the charity stripe for 33 points.
The duo lead the scoring charts after the preliminaries with 76 and 62 points respectively.
Hagar Amer the double-double queen
The 2022 Most Valuable Player Hagar Amer, who is returning to the competition since her championship-winning run with Alexandria Sporting (2022, 2023), has continued to impress, leading Al Ahly Sporting Club to three consecutive victories, scoring double-doubles in each game.
She scored 16 and grabbed 10 rebounds in the hosts' opening 91-62 victory over Friend's Basketball Association, repeating the feat as the side saw off REG 88-60, going 18 and 10.
Amer completed her Group Phase action with her highest tally of 25 points and 15 rebounds in the side's 86-65 win over Sporting de Luanda, finishing the preliminaries on top of the efficiency charts.
Philoxy, Fall lead in assists and block
APR's Destiney Philoxy headlines the assist charts so far, with 18, one more than Kenya Ports Authority's Aminata Samassekou, while averaging 27.8 minutes on the floor for the reigning bronze medalists.
Malian international Samassekou has been on the floor longer, with a 29.3 minutes average, recording one assist more than Al Ahly Sporting's Delicia Washington who has averaged 26.2 minutes in 3 games.
ASC Ville de Dakar's Mame Khoudia Fall is leading the block party with 9, tied with REG's Kristina King who has had more playing time (22.2 and 37 minutes respectively.
Quarter-finals pairings set
After the first 18 games of the 2025 WBLA, the Quarter-finals pairings are as follows:
- Ferroviario de Maputo (Mozambique) vs Sporting Clube de Luanda (Angola) - ASV Ville de Dakar (Senegal) vs REG (Rwanda) - APR (Rwanda) vs KPA (Kenya) - Al Ahly Sporting Club (Egypt) vs CNSS (DR Congo)
FIBA