Basketball News: D’Tigress Retains Afrobasket Title
D’Tigress has retained its Afrobasket title after winning Mali in a 70-59 win.
Nigeria’s D’Tigress has claimed their third straight continental title after a 70-59 win over Mali in yesterday’s final as the coach Otis Hughley-tutored side showed class at the 2021 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket.
Captain Adaora Elonu was also named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the tournament by FIBA.
Nigeria finished first in Group B and their run to the final has been void of any blemish and they again proved their mettle against the hungry Malians.
The Nigeria ladies displayed their intention to wade off any opposition to their quest in reaching her third straight title, thus justifying their rating as the highest-ranked African team in the world.
Having dominated the first quarter by 22-11, the Malians fought back to win the second quarter at 13-9. But the Nigerians were not ready to play to the gallery as they race to the lead in the third quarter with 28-14 while the Malians managed to cut the margin in the fourth quarter with a 21-11 win. But overall, Nigeria ruled with 70-59 victory to become only the second team to win three titles in a row after Senegal did so from 1974-1981.
Nigeria had finished on the top of the podium in 2017 in Bamako and 2019 in Dakar.
This year they returned to Yaoundé, a stage where they finished third in 2015 to claim the title at the expense of Mali.
Victoria Macaulay scored the highest points for Nigeria with 15 points, three rebounds, one assist, and two steals to be the top performers in the final.
