Record winners of the Zenith Bank/NBBF Women Basketball League, First Bank, opened their Final 8 campaign on a winning note after overcoming an early scare against Bayelsa Blue Whales yesterday 16 September 2025 in Lagos.
Bayelsa started by taking up points off their illustrious opponents in the early minutes of the 1st quarter before the Bankers showed their superiority, finishing the quarter on 11-10.
The Elephant Girls as First Bank are fondly called extended their lead in the 2nd quarter to four points to end the first half on 24-20 points.
It was all First Bank from that moment after edging the 3rd and 4th quarters respectively 17-7 and 12-9 points to finish the game with 53-36 points.
In the first game of the evening, Air Warriors suffered some heartbreak as they lost by just two points against Royal Aces.
Despite taking a seven point lead towards the end of the game, Aces allowed their opponents gain momentum as their lead evaporated to leave the game tied at 52-52 with just a minute to go.
With the crowd inside the Indoor Sports hall of the National Stadium in Surulere expecting extra time, Royal Aces came up with the winning basket to secure the victory, 54-52 points.
Meanwhile, there was good news for the eight teams participating in this year’s finals after the sponsor of the league, Zenith Bank PLC, announced a total sum of N15.5m up for grabs for all the participating teams.
The champions will pocket N7.5m while the runners up go home with N5m as the third place team will receive N3m for their efforts. Also, all the Atlantic and Savannah Conference winners are going to receive N1m prize money just as individual award winners like the MVP will go home with N500,000 each.
Written by Kelechi Bernard