Kukoma Diamonds have retained the Rainbow Paints Blantyre and District Netball League championship after beating First Choice Tigresses 33-27 in a grueling match played before a filled-to-capacity Blantyre Youth Centre in Blantyre on Saturday.
In essence, the two teams took the fight for the title to the wire as they were tied at 41 points after playing 21 matches apiece.
For Tigresses, it was an uphill battle as they had to win the match at all cost to usurp the title from their tricky opponents.
For Diamonds, a draw would have sufficed as they had a baskets’ advantage.
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Before the match threw off, both sets of players dancers to Kwasa-kwasa songs as they made their way to the pitch.
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After the final whistle, though, only Diamonds’ players danced.
It was not a stroll in the park, though, as both teams seemed to be nervous, with Tigresses failing to score twice and Diamonds failing to score once.
It took exactly three minutes and eight seconds for Tigresses to register a basket.
It was game on, with Eve Kazembe— who has emerged the league’s top goal scorer proving to be a thorn in Kukoma Diamonds’ flesh. The first quarter ended 15-13 in favour of Tigresses.
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Diamonds came with other ideas in the second quarter, which ended 20-17 in their favour.
They continued from where they stopped in the third quarter, leading Tigresses by 26 baskets to 20.
The fourth quarter saw Diamonds scoring seven more baskets to end the tie at 33 baskets to 27, after Tigresses managed to score seven baskets against their opponents, Diamonds’ goal shooter Grace Chazungulira had a grand game, meaning that she played a key role in ensuring that her team retained the championship— setting it on course to collecting K2 million.
For their toil, Tigresses pocketed K1 million, with third-placed Imosys carting home K600,000.
The sponsorship package for the Rainbow Paint league is K12 million. Diamonds Coach Noel Mussa was pleased with his team’s success.
“It was a tough competition but we managed to pull through. Remember that in the first round, we drew with Tigresses 41-41. No wonder, they gave us a good game today. In the first round, we stuttered against them because two of our players, namely Towera Vinkhumbo Nyirenda and Caroline Mtukule-Ngwira left abruptly and our players did not have enough time to gel.
“This time around, we knew that we would have no excuse for giving away the game and, as such, we gave our all. I am happy with the way my players played,” Mussa said.
His counterpart Peace Chawinga-Kaluwa said she was not disappointed with her team’s loss.
“I am saying this because the players gave their all. We played well today and I cannot complain,” she said.
In other matches that were played on the day, Blantyre Tremors beat Chilomoni 48-42, with Shizaella beating Airforce 35-32.
In friendlies, Rainbow Select beat Dynamites men’s team 35-25, with Akabawi men’s team playing Prison Queens in another friendly.
