How Nigeria’s D’Tigress Defeated Senegal To Win Historic Consecutive Afrobasket Title

In a historic feat, Nigeria’s D’Tigress on Saturday, won her fourth title in a row after trashing Senegal in the final of the 2023 women’s Afrobasket championship.

The Rena Wakama-led ladies defeated the Senegalese 84-74 at the BK Arena, Kigali, Rwanda.

By the historic win, Nigeria becomes only the second African country to ever win the women’s Afrobasket title four times in a row.

According to reports, Wakama also became the first female coach to win the competition since its inception in 1966.

Recall that the road to victory began on Thursday last week after the Nigerians beat host, Rwanda 79-48 in the semi-final to book a place in the finale.

In the final, the coach maintained the starting five of the previous game; Amy Okonkwo, Palla Kunaiyi-Akpanah, Elizabeth Balogun, Sarah Ogoke, and Blessing Ejiofor.

D’Tigress never looked like faltering from the history lane and quickly established a 19-10 lead in the first quarter.

The Nigerians increased the lead with more intensity in the second quarter and were ahead by 43-31 by halftime.

The Senegalese returned from the break rejuvenated, and they clawed back the lead to 62-57 at the end of the third quarter.

The final quarter was fiercely contested, but D’Tigress dug in to secure a 10-point victory to etch their name in African basketball history.

Until today Senegal was the only side in Africa to have won the title four consecutive times but D’Tigress was able to equal the feat after beating

D’Tigress won the last three editions of the Women’s Afrobasket and remains unbeaten in every African competition.

The team won the 2017 trophy in Bamako and claimed the second title in Dakar, Senegal, in 2019, before completing the three-peat in Cameroon in 2021.

Meanwhile, Kanyi Daily reported that the Netherlands put an end to South Africa‘s historic run in the Women’s World Cup knockout stages with a 2-0 victory in Sydney.

During the match on Sunday, August 6, Banyana Banyana faced an early setback when a failed clearance in the ninth minute allowed Jill Roord to score an easy header into the open net, securing her fourth goal of the tournament as the Dutch midfielder.