Sharon Ekhiwere
The Nigerian female national Basketball team, the D’Tigress today secured passage into the finals of the ongoing FIBA women’s afrobasket championship with an emphatic win over host, Rwanda.
The D’Tigress only need to start strong to put a dent in the ‘seemingly’ historic run of the host. Nigeria was in the lead at the end of the first quarter by 6-22. The second quarter was also a huge margin win as it ended 12-22 in favour of Nigeria.
Even though the home supporters did their best to spur their team to a near-impossible comeback at the end of the third quarter where Rwanda got a 17-14 lead, the D’Tigress once again dashed all possible chances by winning the fourth quarter 13-21. The final result was 48-79 in favour of Nigeria.
D’Tigress have now extended their unbeaten run to 23-0 and have won every game played on African soil since they lost on October 2nd, 2015, which is four consecutive AfroBasket editions.
Amy Okonkwo was once again the cynosure of all eyes on the day, with an efficiency of +30, scored 23 points, 10 rebounds, 2 steals and 2 assists to propel the D’Tigress to the final.
This victory, therefore means that the D’Tigress will now make an appearance in their fourth straight FIBA Women’s AfroBasket final, which they won the previous three.