By Isaac Akugizibwe

KIU Main Campus - KIU Rangers lost 85-76, their second game in a row against UCU Lady Canons and have to win the remaining three series if they are to claim the best of five semifinals Playoffs series and reach the finals for the very first time.

However KIU Rangers coach, Roger Serunyigo is confident his girls can overturn a 2-0 deficit if they only correct a few mistakes made in yesterday's game at YMCA court. The Rangers looked like a different team from that helplessly lost game one 62-43 on Sunday and according to the tactician, such a mood can grant them victory on a good day.

"If we come back in the same fighting moods, we will get game 3. There’s quite a lot of hope," Serunyigo said in a post-game interview.

"It was a hard-fought game. The girls corrected lots of errors from game 1. They applied all the technical changes to the team structure, but fell short of rebounding and boxing out, and gave away three back-to-back threes as they didn’t close out the UCU shooters," he explained.

The Rangers did well on offense in yesterday's game, managing 33 more points than in game one but were negligent with leftover balls which UCU took advantage of to advance their grip to Victory.

"We need to fight for every leftover ball, UCU did that and they benefited. We fought harder in game two but not hard enough," KIU coach Roger Serunyigo acknowledged.

Rebounding and boxing out have been troubling the Rangers all season long and it was back into play yesterday's game and was a limiting factor in the Ranger's pursuit of redemption.

"Girls played their hearts out last night but fell short of rebounding and boxing out. Their offense was better this time round," Mr.Serunyigo noted.

Ines Kanyamuza (19), Perus Nyamwege(18), and Florence Nanyonga all scored in double figures but their efforts weren't enough to secure victory for the Rangers. Ninette Uwineza also stood out in rebounding and registered a double of 18 rebounds.

UCU's Maimuna Nabbosa stole the show and top scored with 23 points while star lady Rose Akon was the only player in the whole game who managed a double-double with 17 points and 23 rebounds.

KIU Rangers will again meet with UCU this weekend in a do-or-die game three, one that the ladies in green should win or else go into early preparations for next season.