Ndidi Madu (NGR) - Mozambique v Nigeria, 2015 Afrobasket Women, Yaoundé (Cameroon), Quarter Final, 1 October 2015
SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - AfroBasket Women 2015 is now history and I could not agree more with the tournament's All-Star Five as well as with the four Semi-Finalist teams.
SHEFFIELD (Julio Chitunda's African Message) - AfroBasket Women 2015 is now history and I could not agree more with the tournament's All-Star Five as well as with the four Semi-Finalist teams.
As well as being named Most Valuable Player of the Tournament,Aya Traore headlined the top five performers which also included Cameroon'sRamses Lonlack, Geraldine Robert of Gabon, Deolinda Ngulela of Mozambique and Nigeria's Adaora Elonu.
They were probably one of the most homogeneous group in the history of the event.
But if I were asked to complete a tournament 12-player roster, obviously I would have kept Traore, Robert, Ngulela, Elonu and Lonlack and I would have added some of the best that AfroBasket Women 2015 had to offer.
I would not have called them 'Unsung Heroes' because they did as much as Traore, Robert, Elonu, Ngulela and Lonlack.
Soraia Deghady and Menatalla Awad (Egypt)
While 20-year-old Deghady, a point guard with eyes in the back of her head ignited the North Africans off the bench, Awad, a 24-year-old forward and the oldest player on the youngest team in the competition, provided a team-high 13.0 points per game.
Nadir Manuel (Angola)
By far Angola's best player in Yaounde, the 28-year-old forward did everything in her power to help Angola complete a three-peat, but lacking quality play-making support proved costly for Manuel and the Angolans, who failed to make it onto the podium for the first time since 2005.
Maimouta Diarra (Senegal)
The 24-year-old center may not be a household name in African basketball, but she was one Senegal's most consistent players throughout the tournament. Although she is listed at 1.98m, she looks a few centimetres shorter but provided Senegal with impressive plays in the paint.
Ndidi Madu and Joyce Ekworomadu (Nigeria)
Madu has reinvented her game for the better. One of the players to keep an eye on at the 2016 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT), Madu competed at both ends of the floor as never before. In the Third-Place Game, Nigeria outplayed Angola mostly because of Ekworomadu's shooting. She came off the bench in the final quarter and the former Africa champions were unable to stop her as Nigeria outscored Angola 20-0 to seal a 65-55 victory.
Naignouma Coulibaly (Mali)
Although Mali finished fifth, Coulibaly proved a remarkable player near the basket, averaging 9.9 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
Now, back to the All-Star Five.
For those unfamiliar with Ngulela's basketball career and who watched her run up and down the floor at Yaounde
Multipurpose Sports Palace, they would probably think that she was a newcomer trying to earn a place on the team. But actually the 34-year-old was just playing the last games with the 'Mambas' jersey on.
Ngulela has never done so much for her shorthanded Mozambique side as she did in Yaounde.
As well as posting her highest scoring average for the national team (16.4 points), the playmaker helped Mozambique set a tournament record for most three-pointers in a single game.
As the Mozambicans trounced Egypt 99-76 in the Classification Round for 5th-8th places, Nguela made 8 of her 15 three-point attempts as the Southern Africans finished with an incredible 17 makes from beyond the arc.
As for Traore, she was on a mission and made sure her Olympic dream came true as Senegal won the competition to snatch the only ticket on offer for African teams for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
She sparked her team with some impressive long-range shooting and it came as no surprise that she was named the MVP of the competition.
Over the past few years, I have interviewed Traore a few times, and to my delight she remained as humble as when Senegal fell to Angola in the Semi-Final at AfroBasket Women 2013.
As the tournament moved on, the 32-year-old shooting guard/forward kept her Olympic dream alive, even when Senegal lost to continental rivals Angola and Nigeria in the Group Phase.
Hopefully, Traore remains injury-free to shine at the 2016 Rio Games.
There is not much to say about Robert as her numbers as well as performances speak for themselves.
She was simply phenomenal leading lowly Gabon (3-5) to a seventh-place finish in the competition.
Unfortunately for Lonlack, her Cameroon team failed in the worst moment of the competition.
After heading to the Final undefeated in seven games, the tournament hosts lost momentum in the most important game of their basketball history, losing 81-66 to Senegal in the Final.
The 26-year-old guard, the only Cameroonian to averaged in double digits thanks to her 15.5 points per game, remained with a smile on face despite the setback.
Lonlack won the hearts of her fellow Cameroonians throughout the tournament.
I could have gone on and on talking about the dispersed talents at AfroBasket Women 2015, but these 12 players really made the tournament somehow interesting.
They were probably one of the most homogeneous group in the history of the event.
But if I were asked to complete a tournament 12-player roster, obviously I would have kept Traore, Robert, Ngulela, Elonu and Lonlack and I would have added some of the best that AfroBasket Women 2015 had to offer.
I would not have called them 'Unsung Heroes' because they did as much as Traore, Robert, Elonu, Ngulela and Lonlack.
Soraia Deghady and Menatalla Awad (Egypt)
While 20-year-old Deghady, a point guard with eyes in the back of her head ignited the North Africans off the bench, Awad, a 24-year-old forward and the oldest player on the youngest team in the competition, provided a team-high 13.0 points per game.
Nadir Manuel (Angola)
By far Angola's best player in Yaounde, the 28-year-old forward did everything in her power to help Angola complete a three-peat, but lacking quality play-making support proved costly for Manuel and the Angolans, who failed to make it onto the podium for the first time since 2005.
Maimouta Diarra (Senegal)
The 24-year-old center may not be a household name in African basketball, but she was one Senegal's most consistent players throughout the tournament. Although she is listed at 1.98m, she looks a few centimetres shorter but provided Senegal with impressive plays in the paint.
Ndidi Madu and Joyce Ekworomadu (Nigeria)
Madu has reinvented her game for the better. One of the players to keep an eye on at the 2016 FIBA Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT), Madu competed at both ends of the floor as never before. In the Third-Place Game, Nigeria outplayed Angola mostly because of Ekworomadu's shooting. She came off the bench in the final quarter and the former Africa champions were unable to stop her as Nigeria outscored Angola 20-0 to seal a 65-55 victory.
Naignouma Coulibaly (Mali)
Although Mali finished fifth, Coulibaly proved a remarkable player near the basket, averaging 9.9 points and 9.1 rebounds per game.
Now, back to the All-Star Five.
For those unfamiliar with Ngulela's basketball career and who watched her run up and down the floor at Yaounde
Multipurpose Sports Palace, they would probably think that she was a newcomer trying to earn a place on the team. But actually the 34-year-old was just playing the last games with the 'Mambas' jersey on.
Ngulela has never done so much for her shorthanded Mozambique side as she did in Yaounde.
As well as posting her highest scoring average for the national team (16.4 points), the playmaker helped Mozambique set a tournament record for most three-pointers in a single game.
As the Mozambicans trounced Egypt 99-76 in the Classification Round for 5th-8th places, Nguela made 8 of her 15 three-point attempts as the Southern Africans finished with an incredible 17 makes from beyond the arc.
As for Traore, she was on a mission and made sure her Olympic dream came true as Senegal won the competition to snatch the only ticket on offer for African teams for the 2016 Olympics in Rio.
She sparked her team with some impressive long-range shooting and it came as no surprise that she was named the MVP of the competition.
Over the past few years, I have interviewed Traore a few times, and to my delight she remained as humble as when Senegal fell to Angola in the Semi-Final at AfroBasket Women 2013.
As the tournament moved on, the 32-year-old shooting guard/forward kept her Olympic dream alive, even when Senegal lost to continental rivals Angola and Nigeria in the Group Phase.
Hopefully, Traore remains injury-free to shine at the 2016 Rio Games.
There is not much to say about Robert as her numbers as well as performances speak for themselves.
She was simply phenomenal leading lowly Gabon (3-5) to a seventh-place finish in the competition.
Unfortunately for Lonlack, her Cameroon team failed in the worst moment of the competition.
After heading to the Final undefeated in seven games, the tournament hosts lost momentum in the most important game of their basketball history, losing 81-66 to Senegal in the Final.
The 26-year-old guard, the only Cameroonian to averaged in double digits thanks to her 15.5 points per game, remained with a smile on face despite the setback.
Lonlack won the hearts of her fellow Cameroonians throughout the tournament.
I could have gone on and on talking about the dispersed talents at AfroBasket Women 2015, but these 12 players really made the tournament somehow interesting.
By: Julio Chitunda for FIBA
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