Elephant Girls rue missed chances, promise to come back stronger

Former champions, FirstBank Women’s Basketball Club, who finished third at the just-concluded Zenith/NBBF League, has blamed their failure to reclaim the title on missed chances. The team defeated Royal Aces of Abuja by 46 to 45 baskets to emerge as the third best team in the Zenith/NBBF Final Eight competition decided at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos.

The girls, who were rewarded with a trophy for winning all their matches in the Atlantic Conference, fought back to win the bronze medal after trailing in the first three quarters of the game.

Demoralised by their inability to play in the final, it took the team captain, Theresa Joy Ebiega’s counsel to rally the girls back to winning ways.

Speaking shortly after the encounter, Ebiega said the Elephant Girls will go back to the drawing board to correct all the lapses and mistakes that cost them the tro. phy this year.

“We all as a team need to go back to work. We are going to do a lot of work, this is not what we wanted, but it has happened,” she said. “We have to work harder to reclaim our position. Hopefully we will be in the finals next year and get a continental ticket. That has always been our desire,” She added.

Also speaking on the team’s performance this season, the team manager, Nneka Itabor, said the future of the Elephant Girls is bright, adding that the bank always put the Elephant Girls first in whatever it does.

Earlier in the final match, the Mountain of Fire Ministries (MFM) made it a double over the Nigeria Customs to emerge as national champions of the 2024 Zenith/NBBF Women’s Basketball League.

The victory guarantees the Lagos-based side a place in the inaugural Women’s Basketball League Africa qualifiers billed for Monrovia, Liberia