Record winners of the Zenith Bank/NBBF Women Basketball League, First Bank, on Tuesday, September 16, overcame early scare from the Bayelsa Blue Whales to win the match 56-36. It was their first game of this season Final-8 playoff currently ongoing at the Indoor Sports hall of the National Stadium, Surulere, Lagos.
Bayelsa took the initial lead taking points off their illustrious opponents in the early minutes of the first quarter before the bankers showed their superiority as they finished the quarter 11-10. The Elephant Girls then went ahead to extend their lead in the second quarter after it ended 24-20 points.
It was then all about First Bank from that moment after winning the 3rd and 4th quarters with 17-7 and 12-9 points respectively to end the game with 56-36 points.
In the first game of the evening, it was big heartbreak for Air Warriors as they lost with just two points against Royal Aces.
Despite taking seven points lead towards the end of the game, Royal Aces allowed their opponents gained-momentum with the points evaporated with the game tied 52-52 with just a minute to go.
While the crowd inside the hall was expecting overtime, Royal Aces came up with the winning basket to secure the victory 54-52 points.
Meanwhile, there was good news for the eight teams participating in this year’s finals after the sponsor of the league, Zenith Bank PLC, announced a total sum of N15.5m up for grabs for all the participating teams.
The champions will pocket N7.5m while the runners up go home with N5m as the third place team will receive N3m for its efforts.
Also, all the Atlantic and Savannah Conference winners are going to receive N1m prize money while also individual award winners like the MVP will go home with N500,000 each.
Extrasportnigeria 
Leave a comment