“It hurts to lose, we came for the win” says ABC coach Liz Mills

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ABC Coach Liz Mills. (Photo by BAL)

Queen John-Moseph - AIPS Member - Nigeria

KIGALI, May 23, 2023 - If there was one game with a lot of emotions in the Basketball Africa League Playoffs, it was the quarter final game between Abidjan Basket Club Fighters and Petro de Luanda on Sunday.Petro and Abidjan Basket gave everything one could imagine in a basketball game as two of the best coaches in the BAL, Jose Neto and Liz Mills went head to head on court side. The brilliance of ABC on defense limited Petro to 16/37 from the field and the game was tied 41-41 before the break. Second half was closely contested which also kept both coaches on their feet for most part of it. Petro eventually won it 88-84 in the last few seconds of the game after some errors made by ABC.Abidjan Basket Club head coach Liz Mills stated, "I won't be surprised if this is the best game of the playoffs. It is unfortunate it is a quarter final game, not the final and that's why i think fans really deserved that game as a final."

Mills whose AS Sale team lost to Petro in the quarterfinals last year was almost in tears at the post game conference."This is very different from last year I knew we lost to a better team but this one really hurts we thought we were going to win the title and that's why going home ill be proud but it hurts."With a fourth place finish in the Sahara Conference, ABC knew a tougher challenge awaits them in the Playoffs which justified why they needed reinforcement ahead of Kigali.The Ivorian side signed Omar Abada, Tylor Ongwae and Ousmane Drame, the only team in the Playoffs without any foreign import.Mills acknowledged the importance of her three additions and how it could have been a different outcome if they had played the Sahara Conference."If we had Ousmane, Tylor and Omar in the Sahara Conference, we would have finished first and we would have blown Cape Town Tigers in the quarter final and beaten whoever is in the semifinal and win the trophy, that's the truth."The fact that we could compete very well with a team as experienced as Petro. It speaks volume for the calibre of players that we have and we are the only all-African team in this competition. It tells you Africa has the talent to play in the BAL. We don't need to look any further than that and I am proud of every member of my team today."

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