MFM suffered their first defeat of 2026, losing 77–59 to Friends of Basketball Association (FBA) in their final Group A fixture of the FIBA Women’s Basketball League Africa (WBLA) Zone 3 Qualifiers on Sunday, www.aclsports.com reports.
The result ended a remarkable run for MFM, who had gone unbeaten throughout 2026 while winning the MFM Cup, Louis Edem Championship and NBBF/Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League title, and booking their place in the WBLA continental finals.
MFM struggled to keep pace with their opponents, trailing 13–10 after the opening quarter and 30–26 at half-time. Both sides scored 16 points in the third quarter before FBA pulled away in the final period, outscoring MFM 31–17 to seal the victory.
Idubamo Beggi led MFM’s scoring with 19 points, while Abigail Isaac added 12. FBA’s Elisabeth Dabou, however, led all scorers with a game-high 33 points.
In the other Group A fixture, First Bank Basketball Club recorded their third loss of the qualifiers, losing 60–58 to D-Rockas Basketball Club in a closely contested encounter.
First Bank made a strong start, taking an 18–12 lead in the opening quarter and maintaining their advantage to go into half-time 34–29 ahead. However, D-Rockas responded with an 18–5 third-quarter run to take control of the game. First Bank outscored their opponents 19–13 in the final period but could not overturn the deficit.
Fatou Diagne led D-Rockas with 22 points and 16 rebounds, while Godgift Joseph scored 15 points for First Bank. Gloria Ene Omale added 14 points, with Naomi Okoro contributing 13.
FBA finished top of Group A, with MFM Queens in second place. First Bank Basketball Club finished fourth, behind Energie BBC in third.
Despite Sunday’s setback, MFM will join FBA as Zone 3 representatives at the WBLA continental finals in Cairo, which will take place from December 11 to 19.
Image: MFM
