Zanele Mdodana impressed with Spar Proteas combinations at Africa Cup

The Proteas have been dominant so far, beating Tanzania 104-25, followed by a 58-38 win over Malawi before last night’s 67-31 defeat of neighbours Botswana.

During the post-match press conference, Mdodana expressed that they now know exactly which combinations will work heading into the semifinals, but they are acutely aware that the competition will get tougher in the knockout stage.  

"In the matches that we've played, we've been trying different combinations and we've seen some good combinations, but we also know there's some work to be done," said Mdodana.

"So heading into the semifinals, we now know exactly what will work for us, and we're very happy with the way the players have shown up in this competion.

"We know that it's going to get tougher as we reach the business end of the competition, but we love to see that we can play all 12 of our players in every game."

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Meanwhile, Botswana coach Martha Mosoahle Samm says she knew South Africa would come out strong, but she is proud of her team’s overall performance despite the defeat. 

"Nothing went wrong – South Africa is a big team, I mean most of their players are playing internationally, and they are a very experienced team," she added.

"Botswana came knowing that it's going to be a tough one, and I'm very proud of what my girls did – there's absolutely nothing that went wrong.

"I think we need to go back and just polish on the ball possession we had, where I felt we could have scored from it, but so far I'm very happy with the young team I have from Botswana and there's definitely a bright future for them."