Amoding, Nyamwenge signings already paying off for KCCA

It is still early days in the National Basketball League but KCCA Leopards are already reaping the fruits of their business in the transfer market.

Two of the players signed to the team have started the season with performances to suggest that the Leopards are back and ready to return to the finals for the first time since 2017.

Veteran Maureen Amoding and Perus Nyamwenge have taken turns in the first two games to lead Rogers Sserunyigo’s charges to victory.

Amoding’s game high 32 points helped the Kasasiro Girls to a comfortable 75-33 victory while Nyamwenge took care of business against UCU Lady Canons on Friday night with 25 points and five rebounds for a 74-53 win.

“Perus has grown in the game over the past few months but still has a lot to prove,” head coach Sserunyigo told Daily Monitor after Friday’s victory at the Lugogo Indoor Stadium.

“She is at her very best in terms of fitness and her performances show it all. She wants to make up for the lost time she had with the national team due to injury,” he added.

Nyamwenge is a combo guard who can stretch to three. Her explosiveness makes her a handful and often unplayable for her opponents.

With 14 points against A1 Challenge and 25 against the Lady Canons, the former KIU Rangers player is averaging 19.5 points, same as Amoding, who picked up a minor injury and ended Friday’s game with seven points.

Deadly duo

The pair has combined for 78 points and guided the Leopards to a 2-0 start to the new season, and performances like these and more are what Sserunyigo expects to see his side challenging the very best.

“They have added shooting and leadership qualities to the side. They also often run good transition and can both bring down the ball comfortably,” Sserunyigo noted.

The first big test for the Leopards came Friday night against UCU, and they passed that with flying colours.

Sserunyigo believes that with more presence in the paint, the Leopards will be in a good place.

“We are working on our bigs. We want to make them compatible with the rest of the team and they have already showed signs of improvement.”