{"id":24829,"date":"2025-08-03T10:52:28","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T10:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=24829"},"modified":"2025-08-03T10:52:51","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T10:52:51","slug":"dtigress-extend-unbeaten-streak-to-28-storm-into-fifth-straight-afrobasket-final","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/?p=24829","title":{"rendered":"D\u2019Tigress Extend Unbeaten Streak to 28, Storm into Fifth Straight AfroBasket Final"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s senior women\u2019s basketball team, <\/span>D\u2019Tigress<\/span>, extended their remarkable unbeaten streak to <\/span>28 games<\/span> with a hard-fought <\/span>75-68 victory<\/span> over long-time rivals <\/span>Senegal<\/span> in the semi-final of the <\/span>2025 FIBA Women\u2019s AfroBasket<\/span> tournament on Saturday.<\/span><\/p>\n

The nail-biting encounter, held at the <\/span>Palais des Sports de Treichville<\/span> in <\/span>Abidjan, Ivory Coast<\/span>, saw the defending champions dig deep to book their place in a <\/span>fifth consecutive AfroBasket final<\/span>, as they chase a historic <\/span>seventh African title<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Under the guidance of head coach <\/span>Rena Wakama<\/span>, the Nigerian side entered the game with a commanding 27-game unbeaten run, dating back to their third-place match at the <\/span>2015 edition<\/span> in Cameroon. Having already secured wins over <\/span>Rwanda (92-45)<\/span>, <\/span>Mozambique (60-55)<\/span>, and <\/span>Cameroon (83-47)<\/span> in earlier rounds, the six-time champions came into the semis in red-hot form.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite a fast start by Senegal, coached by former D\u2019Tigress handler <\/span>Otis Hughley<\/span>, Nigeria wrestled control of the game, taking the first quarter <\/span>22-17<\/span> and narrowly edging the second <\/span>21-20<\/span> to lead <\/span>43-37<\/span> at halftime.<\/span><\/p>\n

The third quarter, however, saw Senegal fight back fiercely, outscoring Nigeria <\/span>21-9<\/span> to take a <\/span>58-52 lead<\/span> heading into the final quarter. But D\u2019Tigress once again showed their championship mentality, rallying back with a dominant <\/span>23-10 fourth quarter<\/span> performance led by <\/span>Amy Okonkwo<\/span> and <\/span>Ezinne Kalu<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite <\/span>Murjanatu Musa<\/span>, a former Phoenix Mercury player, fouling out early in the fourth, Nigeria held firm to seal a memorable victory.<\/span><\/p>\n

Top scorers for D\u2019Tigress included <\/span>Ezinne Kalu<\/span> with <\/span>19 points and six rebounds<\/span>, <\/span>Promise Amukamara<\/span> with <\/span>16 points<\/span>, <\/span>Amy Okonkwo<\/span> contributing <\/span>15 points<\/span>, and <\/span>Victoria Macaulay<\/span> adding <\/span>13 points<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

For Senegal, <\/span>Cierra Dillard<\/span> led all scorers with <\/span>26 points<\/span>, while <\/span>Ndioma Kane<\/span> chipped in with <\/span>14 points<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

With the win, D\u2019Tigress not only advanced to Sunday\u2019s final but also reaffirmed their dominance in African women\u2019s basketball, while also securing a berth in next year\u2019s <\/span>FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup Qualifying Tournament<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n

They now stand just one game away from cementing their legacy with a <\/span>record-extending seventh AfroBasket title<\/span>.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nigeria\u2019s senior women\u2019s basketball team, D\u2019Tigress, extended their remarkable unbeaten streak to 28 games with a hard-fought 75-68 victory over long-time rivals Senegal in the semi-final of the 2025 FIBA Women\u2019s AfroBasket tournament on Saturday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24831,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[7411,7404],"class_list":["post-24829","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-2023-fiba-womens-afro-basketball","tag-dtigress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24829"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=24829"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24829\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24834,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24829\/revisions\/24834"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/24831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=24829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=24829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/theblogonline.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=24829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}