The men’s National Basketball League playoff finals concluded on Saturday, August 22 in Hoima, with Namuwongo Blazers clinching the best of seven series 4-3 over the City Oilers, focus shifts to the women’s final.
The UCU Lady Canons lead the series 2-0 heading into game three on Wednesday, August 26. They have a chance of completing a sweep on Friday, August 28 at the Lugogo indoor stadium against the JT Lady Jaguars.
But what an anti-climax it would be if that were to happen in the women’s final. The last team to win a women’s final without losing a game were the JKL Lady Dolphins in 2018, when they swept UCU 4-0 to claim their first championship.
Now, the Jaguars are faced with a similar scenario if they do not find solutions for the debacle they find themselves in. After game one of the finals, which Jaguars lost 35-50, their coach, Sudi Ulanga felt that his charges had done well enough on defence.
But at the same time, he felt their offence was not good, something he attributed to rust. Ulanga noted that his players had not been playing for two weeks, after they beat Magic Stormers in the semi-finals, they lost a bit of their rhythm.
While it was evident in game two that the Jaguars improved, they still lost 61-65. The one significant statistic from that game was their inefficiency on offence. The Jaguars only scored 20 of their 79 attempts, while UCU managed to score from 18 of their 66 attempts.
Both teams had a low rate of execution, although still, the UCU had a 27% success rate compared to Jaguars’ 25%. On the basis of the aforementioned, there is every likelihood that the pendulum can easily swing to any direction in this series.
But for the Jaguars, it is incumbent on them that they force the issue. Last year, the Jaguars lost the finals to JKL 1-4. This was after they drew first blood in the series. Then, Ulanga said that their initial target was to reach the final, which they had never realized in their three year period in the top flight.
So, what happened to the players was that they felt they had over-achieved. Beating JKL would have exceeded their expectations. But Ulanga said in an interview during the second round of this year’s regular season, that their target was the championship this year.
He explained: “I feel the players have gained the experience from our previous battles in the playoffs. The players know themselves well as well, and they have improved as a core, to compete for honours and win them.”
This came on the back of Jaguars’ impressive regular season, where they only lost twice in 22 games. Although the Jaguars shared a similar statistic with UCU at the end of the regular season, it was Ulanga’s team that beat Nick Natuhereza’s side twice in the regular season.
Therefore, coming into the playoffs, the Jaguars were expected to have the upper hand from a psychological standpoint. Besides, in Maimuna Nabbosa, Shakira Nanvubya, Brideget Aber, Azida Nabayunga, Sarah Ageno and Brenda Kayaga, the Jaguars have a team that has won the championship before.
In fact, when Nanvubya and Nabayunga joined them after the 2024 season, from UCU, which had just lost to JKL 2-4 in the 2024 playoff finals, the message was that they had brought in proven winners.
But so far, UCU, who only have one previous winner in their ranks in Lovi Najjuuko, have shown more character and better game management. It is evident that the Jaguars have failed to contend with the pressure of having not won this championship before.
If they can overcome that, hopefully the psychologist they engaged with earlier this week addressed it to the detail, then they can make this series a real battle. They do not need to look far for inspiration. In 2024, UCU led JKL 2-0, only for the latter to bounce back and win 4-2.
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