The national women’s volleyball team, the Kenya Lionesses, will play the FIBA Afrobasket for the first time ever after beating Egypt in the final of the Zone Five Qualifiers in Kigali on Sunday to earn a ticket to the continental showpiece that will be staged in Cameroon in September.

The Lionesses thundered 99-83 against the Egyptians, laying revenge after the North Africans beat them 107-106 when they met in the final first round match on Wednesday.

Felmas Koranga and Victoria Reynolds as well as captain Melissa Akinyi shone for the Lionesses especially in the fourth quarter after the North Africans had threatened to narrow the gap towards the end of the third.

Reynolds was named the tournament’s Most Valuable player as well as the best small forward while Koranga was named the tournament’s best power forward.

“We looked at the vide from our last game and tried to analyze where we went wrong. Basically we just tried to improve on our mistakes and it worked well for us,” Reynolds who was playing for the Kenyan team for the first time said.

She added; “Coming here for the first time and getting to win this as a team and an individual award is great. Now it is time to work hard and prepare for Cameroon. We want to go there and do well too.”

Assistant coach Jack Opel said; “Egypt has been a thorn in our flesh for so long but finally we have won. This has been down to persistence and I am very proud of the girls.”