Nigeria’s female basketball team, D’Tigress has won the FIBA Afrobasket tournament for the third time in a row, after defeating their Malian counterparts.
The final of the 2021 biennial event was decided inside the indoor hall of the Palais Polyvalent des Sports in Yaounde, Cameroon.
D’Tigress in their characteristic style started very brightly in Sunday’s final; overpowering the Malians 22-11 in the first quarter.
However, D’Tigeress fell short in the second quarter, which the Malians won 13-9.
The Nigerian women got back their groove in the third quarter which they won 28-14.
Though Mali claimed the final quarter 21-11, it wasn’t enough to deny D’Tigress completing a hat trick of titles having also won in 2017 and 2019.
Mali beat Nigeria on the two-points shots, making the basket in 49 percent of their efforts against Nigeria’s 36 percent.
However, Nigeria were more successful in three-points shots, making the basket in 41 per cent against Mali’s 9 percent.
Victoria Macaulay was the top performer for the Nigerian girls with 15 points.
The Nigerian senior women’s national basketball team won the 2017 trophy in Bamako and has since stayed unbeaten in every African competition.
They also claimed their second title in Dakar, Senegal in 2019.
D’Tigeress are only the second team in Africa to win three consecutive titles after Senegal did the same in the 70s. The win also makes it their fifth title, after winning the tournament also in 2003 and 2005.
Apart from winning the ultimate prize, two Nigerians,Adaora Elonu and Ezinne Kalu were selected into the team of the Afrobasket tournament. Elonu also won the MVP title of the match.
An elated Sports Minister Sunday Dare said Nigeria’s victory is confirmation of her dominance of the sport in Africa.
“Clearly now Nigeria’s dominance of the sport is indisputable. This is the evidence that Nigeria’s women basketball can be ranked as a World-class programme. We have to sustain this momentum. This is remarkable, winning the Afrobasketball Championships for an unprecedented third time,” the minister said, according to Vanguard.
The D’Tigress have also qualified for the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Australia.
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