Zenith Basketball League: ‘Deepwater Are Not Unbeatable’

After First Bank Basketball Club of Lagos finally defeated current champions of Zenith Bank-Nigeria Women’s Basketbal League, First Deepwater of Lagos in the last  match of the season on Saturday at the Indoor Sports Hall of the National Stadium in Surulere, Lagos. Coach of First Bank,  Aderemi Adewunmi, told P.M.Sports in this interview that his players proved themselves by defeating their arch rivals when it matters most.

How would you describe this year’s edition of the Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball league?

Obviously it was a challenging and competititive season when you consider that all the teams had to travel round some parts of the country to compete in all the phases of the league. If you could you recall that we were in Kaduna for the first phase of the league at a time when the counry was under serious attack from the Boko Haram sect. It was a situation, which discourage some teams from participating at the Kaduna phase. But we defied the threat and competed at the tourney but unfortunaly we finished second behind the First Deepwater Club. In less than a month afterwards, we headed to Ilorin in Kwara state for the second phase of the league. Unfortunately, we  lost to Deepwater in Ilorin despite the fact that we defeated the other teams we encountered. And, the third phase was held here in Lagos, where we played our best game. Beating them was enough to prove that we are a good side.

Your team lost the league title again this year to First Deepwater, making it the third year in a row. Do you think finishing second behind your arch rivals is good for First Bank?

No sir! We are not happy to have lost the title to them, but we still proved to our fans and the world that we know how to beat Deepwater when it matters most. If you could recall that the we once defeated them at the African Club Championship held last year in Lagos, where we finished second behind the eventual winners, the Angolan side. First Deepwater are not unbeatable. The fact that they won the league titles for the last three years was because we are rebuilding our team having lost some of our experienced players to foreign clubs and a few others who got married.

Some pundits are of the opinion that First Deepwater would continue to dominate the Nigerian Women’s Basketball League for a long time like you did with First Bank some years ago. Do you agree with this? 

One thing I can assure our fans is that First Deepwater will not find things easy next season. The edge they have over other teams in the league is that they maintain a stable team over the years. With the defeat we inflicted on them on Saturday in the presence of the whole world and the gap between all the teams in the league is not as wide as it used to be, it shows things will be difficult for them to retain the title next season.