After been the last country to arrive at the tournament the Golden Hoop Queens had to quickly get themselves into game mode as two games were pending. The first game was a daunting task for Ghana and it was against the host nation Mali at the newly built basketball arena STADE DU 26 MARS recently commissioned by the Malian government.

The Golden Hoop Queens did not only have to battle against the top flight Malian team but also the over 800 Malian fans cheering in the stands. With only three players on the bench Ghana had to wisely manage fouls and energy of the players hence contact in defense had to be minimal which worked well for the team as no player fouled out through out the game. The Malians with over seven of its players playing professional basketball in France did not go easy on the handicapped Ghanaian side on offense, nevertheless the Golden Hoop Queens really showed great courage and team work and worn the heart of many including journalists and administrators of the tournament present at the game. The inevitable happened with Mali winning the game 95 - 30 against Ghana. With this win Mali has won all three of its games so far in Group A and lead the group followed by Mozambique who will be playing Ghana in the last preliminary games.

Ghana's third game was against the very physical DR.Congo who before this game were placed fourth in the group with only one win after two games. After the Ghana - Mali encounter a little bit of fatigue had set in for majority of the Ghanaian players who had never in their basketball careers played in such high level competition of this nature. Fatique did not stop the Golden Hoop Queens from going out to make the nation proud irrespective of whether they loose or win. This game was much more physical than the game against Mali and much so because of the physical game played by DR.Congo. This resulted in two players on the Ghana team fouling out they included Center Eva Alhassan and Guard Grace Yinamyah. With two players the team had to play majority part of the fourth quarter with only six players hence giving the DR.Congo an easy last quater as only one player was available on the bench for the Ghana team. Tiredness had set in for the players and DR.Congo took advantage of it to end the game 37 - 89 in favor of DR.Congo.Game Break down: 1st Qtr 8-28: 2ndQtr 15-17 : 3rQtr  6-23 :4thQtr 8-25.

The surprise player for the Ghana team has so far being Elizabeth Atebkah Guard who was the last choice on the 8 player group that travelled to Mali on saturday.Elizabeth seem to be the player who has not been intimidated by the crowd and situation facing the team, she's said to be on top of defense and making plays on offense. The Ghana team have two more preliminary games to play, one of which is against Cote D'ivoire who have also lost all their games. 

Full game statistics for the Ghana team will soon be available.