Bravehearts crowned International Basketball Challenge champions for second year running

Bravehearts Ladies Basketball Club has retained the International Basketball Challenge title, thrashing Zambia’s Green Buffaloes 93-55 in Saturday’s final.

The final was played at the African Bible College Gym in Lilongwe, the same venue that hosted last year’s edition of the competition – a tournament Bravehearts also went on to win, meaning the Malawian side has now claimed back-to-back titles on home soil.

The International Basketball Challenge brings together regional club sides from across southern Africa for a short, high-intensity tournament format, offering teams a competitive platform outside their domestic leagues and an opportunity to test themselves against opposition from neighbouring countries.

Bravehearts have established themselves as one of Malawi’s most successful women’s basketball outfits in recent years, regularly featuring among the country’s top sides in domestic competition.

Their comprehensive 38-point victory over Green Buffaloes underlines the gulf that has opened up between the two sides, with Zambia’s representatives unable to find an answer to the hosts’ attacking threat throughout the final.

The result will further cement Bravehearts’ reputation as the team to beat on the regional club circuit, as they look to build on successive International Basketball Challenge triumphs.