The Nigeria national women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, on Saturday defeated Senegal 84-74 in a thrilling encounter to clinch their fourth consecutive FIBA Africa basketball Championship (AfroBasket) title, Owosports.com.ng reports.
The victory makes Nigeria the second team ever after Senegal to win four consecutive titles and did so in style by extending their unbeaten run to 23 games.
The last time Nigeria lost a game in the Women’s AfroBasket was in 2015 against Cameroon in the semi-finals.
After struggling to beat Mozambique 59-52 in the quarter-finals to set up a last-four showdown with the hosts, Rwanda whom they had defeated in their previous two meetings 2009 and 2011, the champions outclassed hosts Rwanda 79-48 in the semi-finals on Thursday.
D’Tigress began the game on a bright note as they controlled and ended the first quarter with a 19-10 points lead. the resilient Senegalese battled and narrowed the margin to a 24-21 points.
With a 43-31 point lead at half time, D’Tigress were halfway through to achieving their target.
The Senegalese returned from the break rejuvenated and they clawed back the lead to 62-57 at the end of the third quarter.
With all to play for in the last quarter, D’Tigress raised their game and were able to fend off the stiff challenge from the Senegalese ladies winning the nervy last quarter 22-17 and won the game 84-74.
D’Tigress won the 2017 trophy in Mali and claimed the second title in Senegal in 2019, they made it three in Cameroon in 2021 which is now followed by a success in Rewanda making it their fourth consecutive title.
