Arusha, Dar shine as Taifa Cup rages on

ARUSHA made a stellar performance to downsize rivals Kilimanjaro 48-38 in the highly entertaining CRDB Taifa Cup duel at Mkwakwani Stadium on Monday.

Despite losing their third consecutive match, Kilimanjaro, whose most of their players are making a maiden appearance in the annual event, made a stiff opposition to win hearts of spectators, who predicted for their superiority in the coming season.

The Mount Kilimanjaro ladies led the first quarter by 9-8 win, but went down 14-19 at the break.

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Arusha won the rebounding battle in the remaining sets, proving to be a hard nut to crack through their tight -defensive approach.

The ladies of Geneva of Africa used a third quarter to stamp a 16-13 lead.

They used all the better skills they had in store to win the final quarter to disappoint their neighbours.

Maria Mbaga, assisted by Lilian Raphael, took 16 points despite missing some free throws. Victoria Laizer took seven rebounds to cause more disaster.

Kilimanjaro head coach Daud Hizzah has, however, lauded his ladies for what he described as a ‘wonderful’ performance against a well-drilled side.

“We have lost all of our three outings against Arusha, Mwanza and Dodoma, nevertheless, my ladies are highly improving.

“This is due to the fact that 99 of the players are making their first appearance and came to know their opponents during the competition,”

“They overpowered us because of their massive experience,”

“However, I see an outstanding team in the coming event,” said Hizzah.

In another match, Kigoma got the better of Morogoro in the women’s battle at the same venue.

Morogoro took the reigns in all two first quarters, winning by 15-13 and 11-9 for a 26-22 half time lead.

However, they missed some clear scoring opportunities to tie the third quarter by 14-14 before Kigoma made a quick comeback to massively win the last quarter by 12-5.

In matches that were held late in the evening over the weekend, defending champions Dar es Salaam beat 117-44 points in the men’s one sided, but thrilling match held at Bandari courts.

Dar es Salaam were leading 53-29 at half time and were ahead again at 87-39 in the third set.

Thanks to Baraka Sadick who took 16 points as Jackson Brown hit 16, 10 rebounds and made two blocks to keep the ball rolling.

Also had an impact for the winners was Nicas Buhatuoa who had eight assists.

Morogoro made most of their points through Ethan Billy who netted 12 points with four assists with James Simon making 10 with 11 rebounds.

In another duel, Kilimanjaro (men) beat Pemba 69-52 at Mkwakwani Stadium.

The event has been sponsored by CRDB Bank, involving 36 teams in both men and women disciplines.

 

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