365NEWS gathered that the Mountain Of Fire And Miracle Ministry MFM Women Basketball Club on Thursday defeated Nigeria Customs Women’s Basketball Club to emerge the champions of the 2023 Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League.
Recall that MFM were finalists last year but they were pipped to the title by Air Warriors.
However, it was a different story yesterday as the Church girls stood firm to emerge champions at the expense of the Nigerian Customs ladies.
In a tense match that ended in overtime, MFM at one point threw away a 12 points lead to end 58-58 points in regulation time.
The Pastor Olukoya girls then held their nerves to emerge winners with 64-60 points in overtime for their first title.
Meanwhile, the sponsor of the Women’s Premier Basketball League, Zenith Bank, yesterday agreed to add the national Division One to the league they will be sponsoring in the country beginning from 2024.
This was disclosed by the president of the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) Engineer Musa Kida, during the halftime of the match between Nigerian Customs and MFM.
The NBBF president expressed his appreciation to Zenith Bank for accepting to sponsor the Division One league.
He said “It is with great pleasure for me to announce that Zenith Bank Plc has decided to bankroll the Division 1 league for women in Nigeria.
“It is a way of further going to the grassroots to get players for the elite division. It’s a welcome development for the growth of women basketball in Nigeria.”
The Executive Director, Zenith Bank Plc, Dr. Temitope Fasoranti, said adding the Division 1 league to the elite division the financial institution is already sponsoring is in line with their corporate values.
“We have continued to invest in youth development, invest in women, invest in sports because all these drive the spirit of entrepreneurship in our youths, our women and sports generally,” he said.
It will be recalled that the final 4 of the 2023 Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League dunked-off on Tuesday, October 17 at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium Surulere in Lagos.
The quartet of Nigeria Customs, MFM, Air Warriors and debutants Bayelsa Whales were the four teams that qualified for the finals from the Atlantic and Savannah Conferences.
They dominated the game from the blast of the whistle in a keenly contested battle at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium, Lagos.
For their efforts MFM pocketed the N1,750,000 prize money as champions of the competition.
The second place position, in the round robin competition, went to Air Warriors Basketball Club of Abuja, having won two games in the competition.
For their efforts they went home with N750,000, while Customs went home with N500,00 for coming third.
Head Coach of MFM, Ochuko Owolabi, told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that her team had worked their socks off to win the competition.
“We came to fight for the trophy and did that from the begining till the end; it’s our fist championship trophy and it will not be our last,” Owolabi said.
Similarly, Air Warriors’ Coach, Samson Sotinmi, said he was happy about his team’s achievement, and that the team could have done better but settled for second place.
“We played well in the competition, it could have gone our way but for the way we played our first game which cost us dearly.
“We look forward to more competitions to help keep us busy and develop the players for further championships,” Sotinmi said.
Meanwhile, the sponsors of the competition, Zenith Bank, represented by Temitope Fasaranti, Executive Director, congratulated all the players who participated in the competition.
He said the bank would always be a part of the sport beacuse it aligned with the company’s policies in rewarding hard work and entrepreneurship in youths.
“We will continue to back sports activities that bring the best out of our youths, especially basketball which has over the years produced top quality players for the national teams.
“The league has also produced many players who have over the years used the plartform to develop themselves and play for international clubs and colleges,” Fasaranti said.
