Sharon Ekhiwere
The defending champions of the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket, the D’Tigresses of Nigeria on Sunday continued their very impressive performance at the ongoing tournament in Kigali, Rwanda as they defeated Egypt 83-65 to secure an early passage into the last eight.
After winning the first two quarters, 18-10 and 24-13, D’Tigress could not keep up the momentum in the third quarter as Egypt emerged tops with 19-14 to narrow the gap going into the last quarter.
It was a fiercely contested fourth quarter as the North Africans tried hard to get back into the game. However, D’Tigress stood solidly to see the game off; winning the final quarter 27-23 and the game overall 83-65.
Amy Okonkwo had the best performance, scoring 29 points, 13 rebounds and 4 assists to help the D’Tigress to an 83-65 win and a place in the quarterfinals.
This win makes it three times in a row that Nigeria women will be enjoying victories over Egypt, having also beaten the North Africans in 2015 and 2017.
While Nigeria advances to the quarterfinal, Nigeria’s other group opponents, Egypt and DR Congo will need to play a qualifying round for a chance in the quarter-finals.