Our Victory Against Nigeria Customs Is A Miracle- MFM Women Basketball Team Coach

Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Women’s Basketball team defeated Nigeria Customs 57-53 to qualify for the final round of the Women’s Basketball League Africa (WBLA) Qualifiers.

The Olukoya Ladies continued their recent dominance over Nigeria Customs with a hard-fought victory.

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.

Nigeria Customs bottled a 53-51 lead with just 58 seconds left, it was a 3-point shot from Idubamo Beggi that changed the narrative to give MFM a 54-53 lead.

Tobiloba Ogedengbe recorded the highest points for Customs with 15 points followed by Gloria Omale with 10 points, while Cynthia Gbihi added 14 points for MFM.

Another key player for MFM in the encounter, Idubamo Beggi revealed that the team refused to give up despite the tough times.

She said: “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.”

MFM coach, Ochuko Okorogun Lawal described the win as a miracle.

He said, “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.”

The victory sealed MFM’s place at the Women Basketball League Africa holding in Dakar, Senegal from 6 to 12 December 2024.

Meanwhile, Chairman of the National Sports Commission (NSC), Mallam Shehu Dikko has congratulated Mountain of Fire and Miracles Ministries Women Basketball Club for making Nigeria proud by qualifying for the final round of the Women Basketball League Africa.

He said, “I’ve been following the exploits of the MFM girls and I’m glad that they’ve made the country proud by qualifying for the bigger stage which is the FIBA league for women in Africa where the best 8 teams will assemble in December. I have no doubt in my mind that they will hold their own against the rest of Africa.

“I want to commend the MFM General Overseer, Dr Daniel Olukoya for his investment in youths and sports in Nigeria. We all recall the exploits of MFM Football team that was a force to reckon with in the NPFL and they represented Nigeria in the CAF Champions League a few years ago during my time as the chairman of NPFL.

“I am also aware that MFM has a wrestling team that has produced world beaters and even a table tennis team. These are worthy of commendations from the clergy and indeed the MFM model duly aligns with the NSC vision of domestic sports development. We thank him and urge him not to stop impacting the youths because we will find a way of showing our support in the days to come,”

Three weeks ago, MFM defeated Nigeria Customs 64-53 to win the Zenith Bank/NBBF Women’s Basketball League.