Exactly one year ago, Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team D’Tigress conquered the whole of Africa to become the 2017 Afrobasket champions Bamako, Mali. Before their triumph at the 2017 FIBA Afrobasket last year, the Nigerian women had lifted the trophy only two times in their history; in 2003 and 2005.
Their final against defending champions, Senegal, was quite thrilling as the Nigerian team started off on a very bad note, losing the first quarter 12-18 to the former champions. However, the Nigerian ladies picked up the pace and proved themselves the stronger team as they more than doubled Senegal’s points at the close of the second quarter with 21-10 points on the scoreboard to end the first half with 33-28 points.
At this time, fans had begun to wonder, ‘what exactly happened to Nigeria at the start of the game?’ The D’Tigress team was very fierce in dealing with the Senegalese team after totally dominating the third quarter, allowing the defending champions only a measly 7 points against Nigeria’s 15 points.
The fourth and last quarter had both teams pull up every trick in their box as fans watched to see if the defending champions would retain their title or if Nigeria would for the first time after 12 years lift the Afrobasket title.
Roar!! D’Tigress
D’Tigress would eventually pick the win with 65-48 points at the end of the game, to become the 2017 Afrobasket Champions. Evelyn Akhator was the top scorer for Nigeria with 13 points; Aisha Mohammed made seven rebounds while Adaora Elonu added four assists.
Feature image: makingofchamps.com