By Amaechi Agbo
D’Tigress celebrating their triumph over Cameroon Nigeria’s D’Tigress put up a championship display to dismiss Cameroon and book their rightful place in the semi-final of the 2025 Afrobasket in Abidjan Cote d’Ivoire on Thursday night.
The Nigerian girls were on the front foot from the start of the game winning the first quarter 21-9 points but when the Lionesses thought that they were beginning to build some confidence by tying the second quarter 20-20 points, the African champions however raised their game to another level in the third quarter with a master class dominance of 25-2 points to put a day light between them and their opponent.
By the fourth quarter, the Nigerian crowd at the stadium were already in a celebration mood as Nigeria edged it 17- 16 points to win the game with a 36 point margin.
It was an all round performance from the Nigerian girls with both their shooting qualities and strong defensive display against a very physical Cameroon team.
Captain Amy Okonkwo led the statistics with a total of 18 points, 6 rebounds and 1 Assist while she was followed by Anamosi Nichole who finished the game with 12 points, 3 rebounds and 2 assists.
Nigeria is now two games away from an unprecedented five straight Afrobasket title and will take on Senegal in the semi-final on Saturday, a repeat of the 2023 Afrobasket final in Rwanda.
Coach Rene Wakama who said the Cameroonian Game was tough despite the scoreline, stated that the Senegal match will not only be another difficult game but one that will be full of emotions but they will surely be ready for it.
“Credit to Cameroon because first half they refused to go away but my message in the half to the girl is that we must come out and be dominant and the girls responded 25 to 2 in the third quarter”.
“ On Saturday it’s going to be a great game and it will definitely be emotional for some and that is basketball.But we know our mission here and we will not allow anything to change that, but as I said it is going to be an emotional game and very physical as well”, Wakama concluded.
The four teams in the Semifinal have all qualified for the Qualifying tournament of the 2026 World championship in Germany while the winner of the Aftobasket will get an automatic ticket to the World Cup.
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