Al Ahly remain unbeaten after win over ASC Ville de Dakar

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This was a much-anticipated encounter between two heavyweights who had completely outclassed their opponents in the first two games. Al Ahly won the jump-ball and immediately opened the scoring with a lay-up by Ndioma Kané. After a series of uncontrolled plays, the game went stale for almost 3 minutes before Kamite Dabou opened the score for Dakar.

The next few possessions were all Al Ahly with suffocating defense and paint dominance to give them an early 4-point lead. Al Ahly had a response for every attack from Ville de Dakar. It was a low scoring game with the score at 7-4with just over 4 minutes to go in the first quarter in favor of Al Ahly before Fatou Diagne found her teammate Fatou Pouye for a 3-point shot that found the bottom of the net for the tie. Kadidia Maiga followed through to close the first scoring when she made a 3 to give Ville de Dakar a 3-point lead before the end of the quarter with the score at 12-9.

The second quarter was tightly contested as both teams began to find their rhythm. Al Ahly got on an early run to take the lead at 16-14. Thereafter, there was little to nothing to separate the two teams as they began to trade baskets. Ndioma Kané made the most of this as she went up to 13 points and 9 rebounds at the half for Al Ahly.

Kadidia Maiga kept the flame burning on offense for the Senegalese outfit as she went up to 9 points at the half. Ndoumbe Mbodj was clinical on the free-throw line and converted both her attempts after grabbing 8 rebounds. She followed up these efforts when she converted a 3-point shot from a beautiful dime from Kamite Dabou. Both teams let their defensive intensity determine their offensive flow. This led to a very tight game with multiple lead changes. Couna Ndao split the pair on the free-throw line with seconds to go that could have given her team the lead. However, it was Dyaisha Fair who made the pull-up jump shot to Al Ahly the lead before the halftime break. They led 30-28 at the half.

The third quarter got off to a slow start, similar to the first. It took almost two minutes for either team to break the deadlock when Ndeye Ndiaye converted a short jump shot. Then Al Ahly went on a 13-4 run and established themselves well but were mindful that Ville de Dakar will not take this lying down. They made a run that was capped off with the 3-point shot of Kadidia Maiga to bring the game to within 6 points. After a dry spell, Raneem Elgadawy made the final lay-up of the quarter to give Al Ahly a 45-37 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Kadidia Maiga started the fourth quarter with 2 lay-ups and a 3-point shot to cut the lead, but Al Ahly upped the ante defensively and made it a quarter that Ville de Dakar wishes to forget.

They were limited to only 9 points in the quarter while Al Ahly who already had an 8-point lead added 16 to their tally. Kadidia Maigaled her team with 17 points and 5 rebounds but it was not enough to take her team over the edge as they suffered their first defeat in front of their home fans. The Al Ahly eagles continued to soar on the wings of Ndioma Kané who had 19 points, 14 rebounds and 2 blocks to give her team a 61-45 victory. Madjiguene Sene also had a double-double for Al Ahly as she recorded 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Raneem Elgedawy of Al Ahly had the following to say:

We weren’t focused at the beginning but at halftime, coach spoke to us to focus on defense first then offense. We were afraid a little bit because of the hands and at the end of the game we played together and that’s how we won the game

Al Ahly, now undefeated, have set themselves up well for the playoffs. ASC Ville de Dakar on the other hand will have a tougher matchup. That is a challenge they are up for as there is not an easy matchup in the playoffs.

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[Photography  Imagery Courtesy of FIBA]