Izuchukwu OkosiNigeria’s senior women’s national basketball team, the D’Tigress on Sunday evening will face Mali in the qualification stages of the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Australia and will book their ticket for the tournament with a win against their West African foes.
Undeterred by internal wranglings in the Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) the African women champions Nigeria defeated world power, France at the Ranko Žeravica Sports Hall to set up a clash with the Malians.
D’Tigress dropped the first quarter by 11 to 28 points but came back strongly to take the second, third and fourth quarters in a sweet fashion to win their first game after the opening defeat in the hands of China on Thursday.
Join our WhatsApp ChannelDown by 17 points after the first quarter (11-28), Nigeria stunned the French back with an amazing half-court buzzer-beater at the end of the third period by Promise Amukamara.
Nigeria then took the lead midway through the last quarter to set up a dramatic finish. And, in what proved to be a nail biting finish, both nations could have taken victory, but it was the African Queens who got the job done.
D’Tigress were inspired by Victoria Macaulay, who hit 19 points, 5 steals, 4 rebounds and 4 assists, while France were punished by a huge 25 turnovers.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
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