Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball Championship: MFM beat Customs, win trophy

By Babatunde Ogunrinde

Lagos Oct. 19, 2023

Mountain Of Fire Ministries (MFM) Basketball Club of Lagos on Thursday beat Nigeria Customs Basketball Club 64-60 to win the Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League Championship for 2023.

The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that MFM achieved the feat for the first time in it’s existence and would represent the country in regional/continental club championships.

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 beginning 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 because 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 platform to develop themselves and play for international clubs and colleges,” Fasaranti said.