Uganda hand Botswana first defeat
Boitumelo Khutsafalo | Thursday September 18, 2014 11:50
“This is where we made a big blunder. You could see that our warm up was haphazard and that is where we start a game. If you are not organised in your warm up, you will not play very well,” she said.
Gaelisiwe promised that the team would make right their mistakes and will work more on the mental strength of the team. “We need to beat Zambia at all costs since it is our next game,” she added.
Botswana will host Zambia today, and are hoping a third victory of the qualifiers. They won the first two games against Zimbabwe and Namibia on Sunday and Tuesday.
Gaelesiwe said they had wanted to start with the number one team in their game against Uganda, who remain favourites to finish top in the qualifiers. But because of injuries, she said they had to reshuffle their selection.
Top goal striker, Tebogo Radipotsane sat out of the match yesterday with Tumisang Bagidi starting.
Key player, Portia Rasekhumba again started after a brilliant showing against Namibia on Tuesday, but was substituted because of fatigue. Hildah Binang came in and played as a goal shooter while Bagidi shifted to the goal-attacking role. Against Uganda yesterday, Botswana found themselves trailing at the end of every quarter. By the time the first quarter came to an end, Uganda were leading 12-6. The second quarter ended 23-13 in favour of the visitors. Uganda stretched the lead in the third and last quarter, winning 47-32 in the end. “Zambia play just like Uganda and we have to make sure that we throw away possession easily,” Gaelesiwe said after the game.
In the other game played earlier yesterday, Zambia beat Namibia 54-47.