‘Victory was nothing short of a miracle,’ says coach Lawal as MFM Queens advance to 2024 WBLA final round in Dakar

MFM Queens of Nigeria on Saturday secured their place in the Final Round of the event billed for Dakar, Senegal in December after snatching a late win against the Nigeria Customs at the Samuel Kayon Doe Arena in Paynesville, Liberia

The game had all the trappings of a championship final from the beginning to the end with MFM taking a late victory of 57-53.

For a game that had six lead changes and three ties, Customs were on the driving seat from the resumption of the second half and were at some point in the game up by 11 points less than 2 minutes on the clock.

A 3-point shot from Idubamo Beggi with 58 seconds left changed the narrative to give MFM a 54-53 lead.

The Olukoya Ladies held on tight with 9 seconds left and finished off the game from the free throw line courtesy of fouls on the part of Customs.

‘We’re grateful to God for this victory and I want to specifically thank my teammates that kept encouraging me to take the shot which pulled us out of the fire.

‘This is a victory that means so much to us knowing that last year in Abuja, we went to Customs in a situation that meant we didn’t make the trip to Egypt,’ said Beggi, who contributed with a game-high 18 points.

Cynthia Gbihi added 14 points for MFM.

MFM Queens coach, Ochuko Okorogun Lawal, says the victory was nothing short of a miracle.

‘Nothing seemed to work for us in the game. Our shots were not dropping, our passes were bad but we just kept going and at the end we secured the Final Round ticket. Next for us is the Zone 3 final and I want to have a taste of being champions before heading to Senegal.’