After winning the 2017 and 2019 chip, D’Tigress are champions again!
Nigeria Women’s Basketball team, D’Tigress on Sunday evening clinched their 5th Afrobasket title, by beating Mali 70-59 to end the 25th edition of the Women’s Afrobasket championship in style.
D’Tigress were led to victory by four players with double figures, Victoria Macauley tops that list with a game-high 15 points scoring all three point shot attempted (100%), Ify Ibekwe and Ezinne Kalu both recorded 13 points, Adaora Elonu completes the list as she added 12 points.
Nigeria showed resilience from the first to the last quarter, dropping just a quarter in the process. D’Tigress emerged from halftime intent on not letting the championship slip away.
With the triumph D’Tigress became the second team to win the Afrobasket Championship three times in a row after Senegal did so from 1974-1981.
Ify Ibekwe collected 10 rebounds with five of those defensive rebounds, which helped to slow down the flow of the Malians. A perfect example of a two-way player is Ify Ibekwe who apart from scoring a tournament high 14 points scooped 2 steals, averaging 1.2 steals per game since the start of the competition.
Mali scored 20 points from turnovers with 16 points from second chances. 23 year old 6’4″ Center Mariam Coulibaly, added 13 points but needed just an assist to register a double double, Sika Kone who was Mali’s best performer finished with a double double 12 points 11 rebounds.
Adaora Elonu was selected as the most valuable player in the tournament.
BRONZE MEDAL MATCH
Cameroon picked up its third bronze medal in the and second silverware since 2015 after overpowering Senegal in the third place playoff game 53-49.
The matchup, a remake of the 2015 final lived up to its hype with a lot of spectacle especially in its concluding stages.
11-time winners Senegal cruised comfortably 19-12 in the first quarter and by the times the teams headed to the locker room, they had a 27-22 domination with Bintou Dieme scoring 8 points.
OJB SPORT 