CAIRO (2015 FIBA U19 Championship Women) - Mali punched one of  two tickets on offer for African teams for the 2015 FIBA U19 Championship for Women after beating Egypt 73-65 in the Final of the 2014 FIBA U18 African Championship in Cairo over the weekend.

This will be Mali's third appearance in the world stage tournament, which will take place in Russia. Egypt will play in the 16-team tournament for the second time since 2011.

Most of Mali's successful campaign in Cairo was owed to Djeneba N'Diaye, who was named the MVP of the tournament and led all players in scoring.

N'Diaye also headlined the All-Tournament Team along her fellow Malian Mariam Coulibaly. They were joined by the Egyptian duo of Nada Abdelhamid and Ranem Elgedawy as well as by Neidy Ocuane of Mozambique.

Mozambique claimed the final place on the podium by beating Algeria 51-48 in the Third-Place Game.

N'Diaye is making quite a name for herself, especially after leading her country in scoring at the 2013 FIBA U17 Championship in Klatovy, Czech Republic, back in July.

In that tournament, the 17-year-old had a 25-point performance as Mali edged out Italy 46-44 in the Classification Games. The win was the first by an African team against a European side in FIBA's youth events.

The Malians went on to accomplish a 12th place finish with a 1-6 record. Egypt, on the other hand, finished winless and last in the event.

In Cairo, Mali won all seven of their games, while Egypt collected a 5-2 record.

Algeria finished fourth, while Angola came in fifth ahead of Tunisia. Cote d'Ivoire clinched seventh place and Botswana were last.

Mali's dominance at junior level on the continent continued as they sealed their fifth title since 1996.

FIBA