The journey to the 2025 women’s Afrobasket championship, due in Ivory Coast this July, started in earnest yesterday at the Lugogo indoor stadium.
The national women’s basketball team, the Gazelles, which was summoned on Monday, January 20 began training under new substantive coach, Nick Natuhereza. Natuhereza, who also doubles as the head coach of UCU Canons, was part of the Gazelles’ coaching staff at the last Afrobasket that was held in Kigali, Rwanda in August 2023.
However, before then, the Gazelles went through a qualification process, which Uganda hosted, losing the final to Egypt, but managed to qualify as a zone five qualification runner-up. Hope is that they repeat that feat.
Notably, the zone five qualifiers will be held in Egypt from February 1 to 10. And inevitably, the pressure will be on Natuhereza to ensure that the team is as successful in the qualifiers, as they were under Spanish coach Alberto Atuna.
Yet, Natuhereza will not be oblivious of how tough the task ahead is going to be. During the qualifiers in February 2023, the Gazelles were supremely lifted by the shooting guard, Jannon Otto. The California-born American, who became a naturalized Ugandan, carried the team through her exceptional dribbling and shooting ability.
Her act was hard to miss, and inevitably made the tournament’s best five. But now, she is injured, and no doubt she will be missed. This is a player who was the top-scorer in the actual Afrobasket, averaging 21.3 points per game, helping Uganda finish seventh, their highest placing in the 12-team tournament. Otto is not the kind of player Natuhereza will easily replace.
Add the absence of Lydia Babirye and Abby Priscilla, the Gazelles have a battle ensuing for them. But since Natuhereza still has Jane Asinde, Hope Akello, and Claire Lamunu in the squad, therein remains a good team for him to work within the little time left before tip-off.