Muscat: Salalah Club, representing the Sultanate of Oman, achieved a well-deserved victory in its first match in the Fatima Bint Mubarak Gulf Academy Women's Basketball Cup, by defeating the Sheikha Fatima Academy team with a score of 38-22. The match was held at the Fatima Bint Mubarak Women's Sports Academy Hall in Abu Dhabi.
Salalah started the tournament with high pressure, trying to open the scoring in the match. After two minutes, Noor al Kharousi received a foul, through which she was able to score the first points of the match in favour of Salalah. Sheikha Fatima Academy's Mishaal al Marzouqi returned to score two points, putting her team ahead 2-1. Buthaina al Maamari responded quickly by shooting from outside the arc to score two points. After several attacks, Amna al Muhairi returned and scored a point from a foul, to tie the score between the two teams. After that, the exchange of attacks continued between the two teams, and Salalah's Shams al Duha returned to score 5 points so that the team advanced with a score of 8-3. Noor al Kharousi returned to double the score, scoring another three-pointer for Salalah. At the end of the half, the brilliant Shams al Ghanji scored another goal, so that the first half ended with Salalah Club leading with a score of 12-3.
The second quarter of the match began with high pressure by Sheikha Fatima Academy in an attempt to reduce the difference and return to the match. On the other hand, Salalah Club players were able to prevent all attempts. In the fifth minute, Ruba al Kalbani was able to open the scoring in the second half and double the score for Salalah. Sheikha Fatima Academy players returned and scored two points, so that the score became 14-5 in favour of Salalah. The attempts continued between the two teams, and each team was able to score a number of points, so that the second quarter ended with Salalah leading 17-7.
The third quarter of the match started quickly from the Salalah players, where Shams al Duha al Khanji was able to open the scoring with a wonderful three-pointer to double the score. Then her teammate Marwa al Ajmi returned to score another three-pointer to increase the difference to 23-7. The excitement and exchange of points between the two teams continued in this quarter, where Salalah Club was able to score 9 points, while Sheikha Fatima’s team scored 6 points to end the third quarter with a score of 32-13.
In the fourth quarter, Salalah players continued to control the course of the match, and Shams al Duha was able to open the scoring again, then her teammate Zainab al Batashi returned to score two more points to make the score 36-13. The excitement continued until the end of the fourth half, and Salalah were able to score two points, while Sheikha Fatima players scored 9 points to end the match at 38-22.
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