2023 Africa Women's Basketball League

2023 Africa Women's Basketball League
League	FIBA Africa Women's Basketball League
Season	2023
Dates	9–17 December 2023
Teams	10
Finals
Champions	Sporting Alexandria (2nd title)
Runners-up	KPA
Third place	Interclube
Fourth place	REG
Awards
MVP	Cierra Dillard (Sporting Alexandria)
Statistical leaders
Points Tiffany Mitchell (REG)

The 2023 FIBA Africa Women's Basketball League (FIBA AWBL) was the 27th season of the FIBA Africa Women's Basketball League, the top tier basketball league for women's teams in Africa. The tournament began on 8 December and ended on 17 December 2023, and was held entirely in Cairo, the capital of Egypt.[1] This was the first season under the new name.[2]

Sporting Alexandria were the defending champions, having defeated Maputo in the previous season's final.[3] Sporting successfully defended its title after finishing with a 7–0 record and winning all games by a wide margin.[4]

Name change

On 15 December 2022, FIBA Africa changed the name of the tournament to the Africa Women's Basketball League.[2]

Qualification

Nine teams qualified through qualifying tournaments that were organised in the FIBA Africa zones, while Sporting Alexandria automatically qualified as hosts of the tournament.

Type	Date	Location	Vacancies	Qualified	Ref.
Host team			1	Sporting Alexandria
Zone 3	11-19 December 2023	Abuja, Nigeria	2	Nigeria Customs	[5][6]
				ASPAC
Zone 4	3–5 November 2023	Yaoundé, Cameroon	2	OverDose Up Station	[7]
				Université de Douala
Zone 5	28 October–4 November 2023	Kigali, Rwanda	3	KPA	[8]
				Equity Bank
				REG
Zone 6	Not held		1	Interclube	[9]
Wild card			1	CNSS
Total			10

Format

The ten teams are divided in two groups of five. The first four qualify for the play-offs which are all played in single-elimination games.

Group phase

The groups were announced by FIBA on 10 December 2023.[10]

Group A

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		SPO	KPA	NCS	UDO	CNSS
1	Sporting Alexandria (H)	4	4	0	411	224	+187	8	Advance to quarterfinals		—	102–77	—	—	98–41
2	KPA	4	3	1	306	260	+46	7			—	—	—	74–59	82–46
3	Nigeria Customs	4	2	2	233	272	−39	6			57–96	53–73	—	—	—
4	Université de Douala	4	1	3	222	311	−89	5			49–115	—	46–57	—	—
5	CNSS	4	0	4	209	314	−105	4	9–10 Classification match		—	—	57–66	65–68	—

Source: FIBA AWBL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.
(H) Hosts

Group B

Pos	Team	Pld	W	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification		REG	GDI	EQU	OVE	ASPAC
1	REG	4	4	0	362	249	+113	8	Advance to quarterfinals		—	96–89	—	86–45	—
2	Interclube	4	3	1	324	228	+96	7				—	80–55	—	79–34
3	Equity Bank	4	2	2	268	306	−38	6			50–84	—	—	76–73	—
4	OverDose Up Station	4	1	3	238	290	−52	5			—	43–76	—	—	77–52
5	ASPAC	4	0	4	220	339	−119	4	9–10 Classification match		65–96	—	69–87	—	—

Source: FIBA AWBL
Rules for classification: 1) Points; 2) Head-to-head results; 3) Points difference; 4) Points scored.

Classification round

9th-10th place game

Team 1	Score	Team 2
CNSS		ASPAC

Final round

	Fifth place					Consolation semifinals					Quarterfinals					Semi-finals					Finals
											OverDose Up Station		55
											Sporting Alexandria		105
						Université de Douala		58								Sporting Alexandria		100
						Nigeria Customs		67								Interclube		74
											Nigeria Customs		65
											Interclube		89
	Nigeria Customs		83																		Sporting Alexandria		103
	Equity Bank		53																		KPA		59
											Université de Douala		54
											REG		85
	Seventh place					Université de Douala		54								REG		97			Third place game
						Equity Bank		75								KPA		101
	Université de Douala		0								Equity Bank		66								Interclube		83
	OverDose Up Station		20								KPA		81								REG		59

Individual awards

The awards were announced after the ending of the final on 17 December.[11]

MVP Award
Cierra Dillard (Sporting Alexandria)
All-Star Team
Cierra Dillard (Sporting Alexandria)
Hagar Amer (Sporting Alexandria)
Madina Okot (KPA)
Destiney Philox (REG)
Victoria Reynolds (KPA)

References

1. "Cairo - Host City". FIBA.basketball.
2. "FIBA Africa Central Board approves schedule of 2023 General Assembly and Elections". FIBA.basketball.
3. "Sporting Alexandria crowned 2022 Africa Champions Cup Women winners". FIBA.basketball.
4. "Alexandria Sporting crowned 2023 AWBL champions". FIBA.basketball. 19 December 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
5. "Nigeria Customs, ASPAC qualify to inaugural AWBL". FIBA.basketball. 6 December 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
6. "Three FIBA Africa Zone 3 teams set to battle for two AWBL tickets". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
7. "Overdose Up Station, Universite Douala claim qualification tickets for AWBL". FIBA.basketball. 5 November 2023. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
8. "REG, KPA make final to qualify for AWBL". FIBA.basketball.
9. "AWBL - One month to go for Africa's new Women Basketball League". FIBA.basketball.
10. "All you need to know ahead of the inaugural AWBL". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
11. "MVP Dillard leads 2023 AWBL All-Star team". FIBA.basketball. Retrieved 29 January 2024.