Basketball: Equity Hawks force decider against Stanbic Aces

Equity Hawks bounced back in emphatic fashion on Tuesday evening, thrashing Stanbic Aces 68-36 in Game Four of the National Women’s Basketball Premier League semifinal playoffs at Nyayo Gymnasium, Nairobi, to force a decisive fifth game.

The result levelled the best-of-five semifinal series at 2-2, setting up a winner-takes-all Game Five on Thursday at Nyayo Gymnasium, with the winners earning a spot to face defending champions Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) in the final.

Equity, who had fallen behind after Stanbic won Game One 66-60, produced a dominant performance to keep their championship hopes alive.

The Hawks responded by winning Game Two 70-37 before Stanbic edged them 56-53 in Game Three to move within one victory of the final.

With their season on the line, Equity took control from the opening whistle and never looked back.

The Hawks won the opening quarter 14-08 before edging Stanbic 17-16 in the second period to take a 31-24 lead into the halftime break.

Equity stepped up their intensity after the interval, completely shutting down the Aces in the third quarter. They outscored Stanbic 17-04 to stretch their advantage to 48-28 heading into the final period.

The Hawks maintained their dominance in the fourth quarter, outscoring Stanbic 20-08 to seal a convincing 68-36 victory at the final buzzer.

The decisive Game Five on Thursday promises to be another tense encounter, with both sides now just one victory away from reaching the championship series.

The winner will meet KPA, who booked their place in the final after completing a 3-0 semifinal sweep of TH3 Swish.

The defending champions defeated Swish 80-42 and 62-49 in the opening two games in Nairobi before completing the clean sweep with an 83-42 victory in Game Three at Makande Gymnasium, Mombasa, to qualify for the final for the second successive season.