Defending champions Dolphins continued their excellent form at the first phase of the Zenith Bank Women Basketball League in Abuja, by defeating AHIP Queens of Kano 52-38 to complete a clean slate of 9 wins from the same number of matches.

Rookie Mistura Subair top scored with 13 points for the Dolphins who rested their starting 5 for the last 8 minutes of the game. Power forward Aderinsola Idowu added 11 points and 7 rebounds to join Mistura as the only Dolphins player to score double figures.

Head coach of Dolphins Ochuko Okworogwu after the game said in spite of the win her team had not been impressive but praised the level of competition.

“We are going back to work hard for the 2nd phase, we were very slack at the defence in Abuja. We can’t afford to continue to play that way if we want to retain our crown”.

“Teams have really improved but the sponsors and the Federation still need to give more support to the teams financially,” she added.

AHIP, who gave an improved performance from last night had Chinwe Okah and Victoria Ofiri as top scorers with 9 points apiece in the loss.

Wilson Idanwenkhai head coach of AHIP believes his team will be stronger for the second phase of the league next month.

“We started like this last season because we had little time to jell and we are just getting into rhythm.  We won’t go home to rest and I know we will come up blazing just like we did in last season’s second phase and hopefully secure a place in the playoffs.”