Nigeria women’s basketball team, D’Tigress had booked a place in the semi-finals of the ongoing Afrobasket Championship in Yaounde Cameroon, after thrashing Ivory Coast 72-56 in the quarter-finals.
Ivory Coast threatened a late fightback but the deed has already be done in the first quarter with Nigeria leading 24-11 and continued dominating in the second quarter.
Ezinne Kalu for the 3rd time in the competition scored a team-high 17 points, plus shooting 2/3 from beyond the arc. Amy Okonkwo also added a tournament high 14 points and Promise Amukamara registering 11 points for the D’Tigress.
Salimata Berte added 13 points for the Ivorians, while Djefarima Diawarra who was the star performer for the Ivorians in their previous game against Guinea dropped 11 points.
The defending champions, averaged 50% from the 3-point line, an area they’ve struggled on for some time, they scored 9/18 from that range. The win means D’Tigress has won the last 6 of 8 games played against their aforementioned QF opponent.
Ivory Coast hopes of grabbing their first podium finish of the AfroBasket championship has been slaughtered, as the wait continues. The closest they have gone was a 4th place finish. For Nigeria is all smiles, two wins left to seal the chip for the 3rd successive time.
Nigeria will face either Senegal and Mozambique, with both teams playing in the other quarter final clash.
MOLATsportgist 