• Basketball

Phoenix seal fourth straight KBA championship

• 23 Hours Ago

Unam Phoenix are the 2025 Khomas Basketball Association (KBA) Women’s Premier League champions, securing their fourth consecutive title after a commanding 76-54 victory over Ongos Shooting Stars at the Unam Gym Hall last weekend.

The win sealed an unbeaten run in the best-of-seven final playoff series, which they have dominated since the start, with previous victories of 88-58, 68-49 and 91-46.

Phoenix have made themselves a household name in the KBA League, as they have been the team to beat across the seasons since their first taste of the championship over Unam Sparks (now Ongos Shooting Stars) in 2022.

Other league titles have since followed against Ongos Shooting Stars in 2023 and over Atlantic Storms last year.



Early lead

The fourth deciding game of the series saw Unam Phoenix gain early control with a commanding 28-14 score in the first quarter and never letting up.

They were driven by the efficient backcourt of Ashley Linda and Fossi Saphir, with captain Anna Iimene orchestrating play and crashing the boards.

Saphir was a two-way force in the victory, leading all scorers with 27 points on 50% shooting, including three of ten from deep, while also grabbing seven rebounds and drawing six fouls.

Linda came close to a triple-double with 66.7% accuracy inside the arc, contributing 23 points, nine rebounds and nine assists to anchor Phoenix’s offence.

Meanwhile, Iimene controlled the tempo and facilitated scoring while defending effectively. Her contributions included another double-double with 14 points, 13 rebounds and eight assists.



Ongos hampered by injuries

The injury-hit Ongos put up a fight through Fiina Namwapo’s leadership (22 points and seven rebounds) and Kornelia Sipapela’s rebounding (11), but poor shooting (25.3% from the field and 23.5% from beyond the arc) and an inability to protect possession (committing 21 turnovers, which allowed 36 points from Phoenix) cost them any chance of a comeback.

Despite shooting issues, Ongos showed effort and hustle by grabbing 61 rebounds, one more than Phoenix’s 60. Most of the rebounds came from Frieda Uushona, who pulled down a game-high 16.

Reflecting on stepping up to Phoenix’s captaincy for the season in the absence of Jennifer Uchezuba, Anna Iimene acknowledged she had to sacrifice personal stats to take up a facilitator and leadership role, keeping the team’s emotions and tempo in check.



‘We are family at Phoenix’

She said they have had a roller-coaster of a season, losing their best defender and top shooter earlier in the campaign. This has eased her into stepping up on both ends for defensive duties and scoring when needed, while helping players adjust to pressure.

“At Phoenix, we don’t play for ourselves but for each other. If someone is struggling, we all fill that gap together. It’s energy and family that keep us going!” she noted.

She also highlighted the sportsmanship and mutual respect between Phoenix and Ongos, especially since some of the players have shared history and will be reunited in the national set-up for the Women Basketball League Africa Qualifiers next month.



‘We intend to come back stronger’

Meanwhile, Ongos player Vilencia “Vivi” Binga took the second-best status in stride, acknowledging that past the competition floor, her team enjoyed themselves in the series.

“We were underdogs headed into the final playoffs, and picking up a couple of injuries to key players early in the series, including our team captain Victoria Netumbo, undercut us. Even more so when there’s only about two or three days between matches, so there isn’t much time to rest or recuperate.

“We tried to rise above it all and are happy to still come away second in the league, an improvement from last season’s fourth place,” she said.

Binga further thanked her team’s physiotherapist, Morgan Pazvakabambwa, for nursing the players to keep them in the fight of a very time-sensitive series and congratulated Phoenix on their title.

“We intend to come back stronger next year and contend for the championship title again.”



Men’s premier league action

Other weekend action saw Quality Basketball come from two-nil down to level the men’s premier league final series 2-2 after beating Unam Wolves 88-80.

Despite a strong start, winning the first two matches of the best-of-seven series 102-94 and 86-83, Wolves have since lost their grip on the championship, suffering their first defeat 96-77 last Wednesday.

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