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Theresa Anya Ebiega is a professional Basketball Player for First Bank Basketball Club, in the Zenith Women Basketball League. She started playing the game of Basketball at a very young age, representing her secondary school in various competitions. Theresa who hails from Benue State fell in love with the game, when she and a close friend went to watch some Basketball matches, with keen interest. This increased her love for the game, persuading her mum to get a pair of shoes and jersey, as part of a support for Theresa’s line. Theresa speaking,
“I love playing this game and I know there is more to it, it helps you build up certain characters positively.”Narrating the reason she chose Basketball over Football, Theresa said, her Glorious Secondary School, Basketball Team, lured her to choose the game.
“When I was in secondary school, then, we had a good Basketball team. We had quite a lot of medals, I was well thrilled with the superlative display from the team, that was why I chose to play Basketball.”she continued
“I had someone who I train with, in school.”Representing her school in the Milo Secondary competitions, she won two Gold Medals and a bronze medal with her school, finishing as the top performer of three, in the team. She continued with her giant strides 3 years after, when she won Gold with Gilalian, in the South Side Basketball League Kaduna. In the competition, Theresa averaged a total of 12.4 Points Per Game 2.2 Assist Per Game and 4.0 Rebounds Per Game.
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The young athlete joined the Nigerian Custom teams in 2016, spending a year with them, before moving to the Kaduna team (GT2000 but now Kada Queens). This was when she showed us a ‘thin end of the wedge.’ She scored over 15 points in almost every game played for the now Kada Queens, averaging 15.6 PPG, 2.1 APG 3.2 RPG, she also scooped an impressive defensive stats of 3.2 Steals Per Game. She helped her team to qualify for the final 8 for the first time in the club’s history but eventually finished 5th in the competition. Her impressive performance with the Kada Queens attracted an invite to Firstbank Basketball Club. Hard Work began to pay-off for the Firstbank Basketball team player, with a huge increment in training intensity, she kept on doing this consistently, improving in her all-round game. In a bid to further spread her horizons, Theresa then moved to Firstbank Basketball Club, churning quite a lot of match-winning performances for them. One part of her game that boomed was her composure with the ball, she can as well move quickly, take down crowded defences with some sublime footwork and skills. Her ability to rebound well makes her one of the unsung rebounders we have in the league, her offensive stats ballooned, improving as a scorer and playmaker. She often shows-off her ability to leap well, dunking and slamming in emphatic fashions. She obviously has not attained that top-level as a basketball player, but she is undoubtedly one of the hottest potentials we’ve got in the country right now, she is profusely working on improving. Female Basketball in Nigeria has been suffering from some hullabaloo in terms of structure, but you can’t take away the quality from it. The League has been dormant for months now, one of the reasons why you don’t get to see league matches played. As the dream of every aspiring Basketball player, Theresa revealed that her main objective right now is to represent the D’Tigress of Nigeria at international level. In her words, she wants to reach out to girls who have a similar vision, so as to make them believe they can make an impact even as a Basketball player.
“I’ve always wanted to represent my country. It is my dream too and I’m not relenting, I always want to reach out to girls like me, cause I know we could live a life of impact as basketball players.”Closing remarks, Theresa Anya Ebiega
“Want to thank God Almighty for Grace and his faithfulness and my family and friends for their support.. I love them.”
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She’s really true grit. There’s no overstating this fact, and just now Nigerian women sports need more like her to look up to. Way to go girl!
Thanks so much Connect Nigeria…