Salalah Club lost their second match against Al Gharafa with a score of 51-31 in the first edition of the Fatima bint Mubarak Gulf Basketball Cup for Girls, being held in Abu Dhabi from August 22 to 26.
Al Gharafa started the game by scoring four points in the first minutes, prompting the Salalah Club players to attempt a comeback and reduce the gap. However, Al Gharafa managed to extend their lead by adding two more points from a fast break, doubling the score.
In the third minute, Buthaina Al Maamari scored two points for Salalah Club, reducing the gap to 6-2 in favour of Al Gharafa. Mona al Sayed, a player from Al Gharafa, responded by scoring two more points, followed by Sama Jaber adding another two points, widening the gap for Al Gharafa. But Shams Al Duha and Nour al Kharousi from Salalah quickly responded by scoring three points, making the score 10-5.
In the final moments of the first half, Nour al Kharousi surprised everyone by scoring a three-pointer, turning the score in favour of Salalah, 11-10. Then, Shams Al Duha back to score two additional points, ending the first half with a score of 13-10 in favour of Salalah.
In the second quarter, Al Gharafa players started strong by scoring 8 quick points, extending their lead to 18-13. Salalah players attempted to come back and narrow the gap but missed several scoring opportunities. Yasmin Abdullah added another point for Al Gharafa.
The excitement continued in the second quarter with Mona Al Sayed scoring two more points from a fast break and another point from a foul. Zeina Battash managed to narrow the gap for Salalah by scoring two points, ending the second quarter with Al Gharafa leading 27-15.
The third quarter saw clear dominance from Salalah Club, who tried to make a comeback. Nour al Kharousi scored a three-pointer in the third minute, followed by Shams Al Duha scoring two more points, reducing the gap to 27-20 in favour of Al Gharafa. The competition intensified between the two teams as Al Gharafa added 6 points compared to 5 points for Salalah, ending the quarter with a score of 33-25 in favour of Al Gharafa.
In the fourth quarter, Mona Al Sayed opened the scoring for Al Gharafa with three consecutive points, followed by Tala Al Tawil, who added another three-pointer to extend Al Gharafa's lead.
Salalah players tried to narrow the gap through Rouba Al Kalbani, who scored two points, making the score 39-26. Both teams continued to exchange attacks, with Salalah striving to get back into the game, but Al Gharafa maintained their dominance and showed strong defence, preventing Salalah from getting closer to the score. The match ended with a 51-31 victory for Al Gharafa.
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