D’TIGRESS of Nigeria kept their dream of a historic fifth consecutive Women’s AfroBasket title alive with a ruthless 83-47 victory over Cameroon in Abidjan, Cote d’Ivoire last night.
The quarter-final win propelled D’Tigress to the semi-finals as they seek to become the first team in the history of the continental competition to win it five times in a row.
The victory also stretched the Nigerian ladies’ unbeaten record in the championship to 27 games.
Cameroon, one of Nigeria’s big rivals in women’s basketball and the last team to defeat D’Tigress in AfroBasket back in 2015, were expected to give the Nigerians a tough time, but the champions were clearly superior from start to finish.
D’Tigress dominated the first quarter and won it 21-9, but Cameroon put up a fight in the second quarter to keep the deficit at half-time to 12 points.
Stung by the second quarter in which Cameroon tied them 20-20, D’Tigress exploded in the third quarter with a 25-2 score and edged the final quarter by one point to complete a 36-point blowout.
Amy Okonkwo led D’Tigress in scoring with 18 points, with Victoria Macaulay and Nicole Enabodi contributing 12 points each, and Elizabeth Balogun adding 11.
D’Tigress next face fellow West African powerhouses Senegal in the semi-finals tomorrow.
Senegal saw off hosts Cote d’Ivoire 66-60 to set up the blockbuster last-four showdown with D’Tigress.
Interestingly, only Senegal have ever achieved Nigeria’s feat of four straight AfroBasket titles, the record D’Tigress are seeking to extend.