Kenya's KPA beat Fox Divas 90-60 and Equity Hawks beat Vijana 75-41 to close WBLA qualifier group phase

Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) beat Tanzania's Fox Divas 90-60 in Kibaha, Tanzania, on 20 October to finish the group phase of the Zone 5 qualifiers of FIBA's annual Women's Basketball League Africa (WBLA) with two wins and one defeat, according to FIBA's results. KPA won the quarters 23-13, 27-13, 25-20 and 15-14. Equity Hawks, Kenya's other club in the event, beat Tanzania's Vijana Queens 75-41 for their first win.

On 19 October KPA had beaten Burundi's Dynamo 75-68 for their first win, and Equity Hawks lost 71-55 to Burundi's Les Hippos later the same day.

Eight clubs from Burundi, Kenya, Rwanda and Tanzania are playing at the Filbert Bayi Olympafrica Centre from 17 to 24 October. FIBA says the top two will qualify for the 2026 WBLA, which takes place in Cairo from 11 to 20 December.

Against Dynamo, KPA won the first quarter 25-17, led 41-31 at half-time and 58-47 after three quarters. Dynamo took the last quarter 21-17. Victoria Reynolds had 17 points and 11 rebounds for KPA, after what FIBA's report called "a relatively subdued performance" in their opening game.

The Nairobi broadcaster Capital FM credited Alima Doumbia, whom it described as Ivorian, with 20 points, three rebounds and two assists, and Christine Akinyi with 13. The station called KPA, who are coached by Samuel Ochola, "the Kenyan champions".

KPA had opened on 17 October with a 95-79 defeat by Rwanda Energy Group (REG). REG came back from 15 points down and won the final quarter 35-12. Kayana Traylor scored 37 points for the Rwandan side, and Tonie Morgan had 13 points, 12 assists and seven rebounds for KPA.

In their defeat on 19 October, Equity Hawks led Les Hippos 33-26 at half-time. The Burundian side won the third quarter 20-9 and the fourth 25-13, and Diaka Berete finished with 17 points and 11 rebounds for them. Lavin Auma Owiti and Betty Kananu scored 30 points between them for Equity, the Kenyan news site Citizen Digital reported.

Equity, coached by Ben Oluoch, began on 18 October with a 91-56 loss to Rwanda's APR and trailed by as many as 42 points. Auma scored 14 points and Taudencia Oluoch 10 in that game, Capital FM reported.

FIBA's group tables put REG top of Group A with three wins from three games, followed by KPA with two wins and one defeat, Tanzania's Fox Divas with one win and two defeats, and Dynamo, who lost all three of their games. In Group B, APR won all three games, Les Hippos won two and lost one, Equity won one and lost two, and Tanzania's Vijana Queens lost all three. APR beat Les Hippos 95-66 on 20 October. Vijana lost 84-82 to Les Hippos and 115-51 to APR.

At the 2025 qualifiers, held in Nairobi, KPA lost to REG in the semi-finals and beat Les Hippos 89-81 after overtime in the third-place game. APR beat REG 82-68 in the final, and APR, REG and KPA all qualified for that year's WBLA in Cairo.

Fox Divas had beaten Dynamo 65-60 and lost 97-74 to REG. KPA beat Fox Divas 81-57 on the opening day of the 2025 qualifiers in Nairobi on 9 November 2025. FIBA's schedule has the quarter-finals in Kibaha on 22 October: REG v Vijana Queens, APR v Dynamo, KPA v Equity Hawks and Les Hippos v Fox Divas. Semi-finals, classification games and a final follow.