Wednesday night in Kigali’s BK Arena, Joyeuse Sifa Ineza determined Rwanda’s 2023 AfroBasket journey was far from over. Sifa displayed a stellar performance in Rwanda’s 66-61 triumph over Uganda, propelling her country into the historic semi-final game with defending champions, Nigeria
The Gazelles led 22-11 at the end of the first quarter and kept that lead through most of the second quarter until Jane Asinde stepped down due to an ankle injury, the injury that cost Alberto Antuna’s squad the game.
At the time, BK Arena got a special guest, which bolstered the mood of the home side fans, allowing them to drive their team back into the game. When Rwandan President Paul Kagame entered the arena, the mood shifted dramatically, and Rwanda rallied back to close the first half by one point. 27-28
Rwanda began the third quarter where they left off, determined to turn things around once and for all. Destiney Philoxy made a three-point jumper, which was followed by Sifa Ineza’s back-to-back three-pointers to take an eight-point advantage.
Janai Crooms Robertson stole a ball, and Melissa Akullu had to foul her to halt her layup. And the determined Crooms scored all of them to stretch the lead to ten points. The action was followed by Crooms’ steal from Jannon Otto, who dished a good ball to the in-form Sifa Ineza, and the latter didn’t disappoint, pouring another three from downtown and forcing Alberto Antuna to call a timeout to stop the opponent’s momentum.
Rwanda maintained its lead in the game, while Uganda entered foul trouble. Sifa Ineza nailed another step back three with 3 minutes left in the third quarter to stretch the margin to 19 points, 51-32. Jannon Otto, Uganda’s irrepressible small forward, scored six straight points to trim the margin to 13 points.
Uganda’s Gazelles fought hard in the last period to get back in the game and narrow the lead to three points while Hope Butera, who was strong on both ends, had already committed four fouls. However, Rwanda emerged as winners, 66-61, and advanced to the semi-finals, their highest-ever reach in a FIBA Women’s AfroBasket competition.
Jannon Jaye Otto delivered another spectacular effort, scoring a game-high 31 points while shooting 15/16 from the free-throw line. She had 13 rebounds and four assists, but it wasn’t enough against a determined Rwandan team.
On the Rwandan side, Assouma Uwizeye stood out with a strong defensive performance. The APR power forward grabbed 13 rebounds, including 10 defensive ones, while committing only one personal foul. She even goes 4-for-7 from the field to provide 8 points in the contest.
Joyeuse Sifa Ineza, 21, led the squad with 19 points, shooting 5-16 from three-point range, collecting 9 rebounds, and dishing out 5 assists in a game in which she only turned the ball once in 31 minutes.
Destiney Philoxy Promise and Janai Crooms Robertson chipped in with 16 and 15 points, respectively.
After accomplishing this historic feat, the Rwandan shooting guard opened up about their pre-court mindset.
“We just came in ready. We lost to Angola and it’s not because they were better than us, but we made a lot of mistakes and that’s like, as Coach said, I just learned from my mistakes, and last game I had 8 turnovers, That’s a lot for a guard.” Said Sifa Ineza
Sifa Ineza added; “I’m not supposed to have 8 turnovers. So, I learned from it and now I got to do the best for the team and just get a win one minute at a time.”
Sifa went on to say that they will prove the doubters wrong
“People are going to talk regardless, but we just learn to block the haters. We just don’t let that energy affect us. And that’s what I said like nobody believed in this.”
“They say, we qualified because we’re the host team and really we just know we’re the underdogs and we got to come out here and just prove people wrong,” Sifa Ineza continued.
Dr. Chekh Sarr’s Rwanda will face a mountain to climb in the semi-finals when they face the reigning champions. Nigeria has won the previous three AfroBasket titles and has not lost in this competition since October 3rd, 2015 when they faced Angola.
The game is set for Thursday, August 3 at 6 p.m. at BK Arena. Mali against Senegal is the other semi-final matchup.
According to the FIBA quota, Rwanda, Mali, Nigeria, and Senegal have qualified for the next AfroBasket in 2025.
