SPAR Proteas coach Dareth Badenhorst commends her squad following Sunday’s 60-37 victory over Botswana

Sunday at the University of Pretoria, SPAR Proteas coach Darreth Badenhorst commended her squad after a hard-fought 60-37 victory over Botswana in an African World Cup qualifier.

On the opening day of the tournament in Tshwane, the fifth-ranked South Africans faced their 28th-ranked neighbours in the last Group A match.

Botswana gave the jittery Proteas a run for their money, with the score at halftime being 26-23 in favour of the home team, but a dominant second-half performance ultimately sealed the victory.

“Well done to Botswana, they are a great team. I coached seven of their players myself and knew that with players like that and a coach like Jenny, they would be great competitors,” said Badenhorst.

“I think we didn’t start very well [it was] nerves with some players who haven’t started at this level before and we struggled at the start, we didn’t keep our central passes.

“I think bringing in Nomfund made things great, and I’m grateful for that because Elmer [van der Berg] fighting the flu, hopefully she’ll be back in a few blocks [Monday].

“But that’s why your depth in your country and team is always good and you can take any player and he can make a difference.”

Today at 6pm, the Proteas will play Namibia in their second Group A match at the University of Pretoria.

South Africa has already qualified as the host nation for the 2023 World Cup finals in Cape Town, with four other slots available for Africa.