A lot left to fight for, says Vikings coach

Montana Vikings’ under-19 girls squad can afford to hold their heads up high, despite going down 33-27 in last week’s fifth annual African Grassroot Hoops Youth Classic finals against Soweto Academy, at the Cape Town German School, in Tamboerskloof.

Vikings had their work cut out in the group stage, managing to advance to the semi-finals despite losing a match in the group stage. 

A narrow 34-33 win against fellow Cape contenders, Hotshots, in the semis, was enough to see them through to the finals.

For coach Mihlali Mpako, it was important for her young charges to give it their best until the final buzzer rang.  They’ve been there before, having won the competition on a previous occasion, albeit a different squad under a different coach, she said. 

The main aim going into the competition, she said, was to play against the best teams and to see where and how they fall short in order to improve as a unit. 

“Our toughest match was definitely the final. We had just won the semi-final by 1 point an hour before,” Mpako said. “When we had to play the final, the girls were tired, coming from that match. They came out and played hard in the final, but we just couldn’t get over the hump.”

While the result may not have gone their way, the Vikings can not afford to be hung up on disappointment for too long, as they have bigger fish to fry.

Plus, her side didn’t walk away empty-handed as playmaker Ayabonga Noncunga was selected as an All Star, just reward for an all-round brilliant performance for her as an individual and for the team, as they played well together. 

The club’s men’s and women’s teams will take part in next month’s Basketball South Africa national club championships after winning their respective divisions in the Cape Town Basketball Association senior leagues. Mpako is hopeful that Cape Town will be named host city once the official announcement is made. 

Two weeks ago, the Vikings made a clean sweep at the provincial club championships to secure their spot at the nationals, which serves as a qualifier for the games premier competition, the Basketball Africa League (BAL).

“In my opinion, I think the future of women's basketball looks bright,” she said, quick to congratulate her Johannesburg rivals. 

“We have skilled and talented girls. The biggest challenge is retaining all these talented kids after high school. If we can fix this, Cape Town women’s basketball will be unstoppable for many years to come,” she said.

Vikings chairperson and one of the club's senior coaches, Craig Daniels, agrees, saying: “Firstly, I think our girls competed really well. Most of our team is younger than 16 years, so to compete with these talented 19-year-olds of Soweto Basketball Academy was great. Defensively, we kept such a talented team to less than 40 points, which showed the success of our defensive systems,” he said. 

“Our challenges came on the offensive side,” said Daniels.  “We struggled to get into our offensive systems quickly. Once the Soweto defense was set, it became difficult to make effective passes.”

Our girls have a good record at this tournament. We wanted to introduce our new group of junior girls to this event, so that we can continue our record of being successful at the Youth Classic,” he said. 

Daniels believes the growth and development of girls' basketball is important as it can provide opportunities on and off the court. 

“If you work hard at your basketball development, you could get into a good high school that has a good basketball programme or even a scholarship or part scholarship to study at a tertiary institution. 

The number of girls playing basketball at high schools is increasing at quite a rate. The quality of coaches at schools is also improving. This should lead to more girls playing at tertiary level, and hopefully more of these girls will also join clubs,” he said. 

“As clubs, we just have to provide those opportunities for them. I think that women’s basketball in Cape Town is on the rise,” he said.

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