D’Tigress’ opponents emerge today as Cote d’Ivoire battle Mozambique

[FILES] D’Tigress of Nigeria. Photo; TWITTER/ Bballnaija

Nigeria’s senior women’s national basketball team, D’Tigress, will know their quarterfinal opponents at the ongoing Rwanda 2023 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket Championship after today’s qualification match between Mozambique and Cote d’Ivoire.

D’Tigress secured their qualification to the last eight of the championship with a comfortable 83-65 points victory over Egypt on Sunday at the BK Arena in Kigali, the Rwandan capital.

D’Tigress’ Amy Okonkwo had a fine performance with 29 points, 13 rebounds, four assists and three steals. She also produced a perfect record from the free-throw line, scoring 11 out of 11.

The Nigerians won the first two quarters 18-10, 24-13 against Egypt, but lost the third quarter 14-19. The Coach Rena Wakama-led team, however, however closed the encounter with 83-65 victory in the last quarter.

In their first game of the championship, D’Tigress defeated Democratic Republic of Congo 69-35. Speaking after the game, D’Tigress forward, Amy Okonkwo, said: “Everything the coach says motivates us. We came for the win, and we knew we had a target painted on our backs. We have a standard that we play to and we’ve been trying to establish a new standard with the new coach.

“We stepped on the court for each other and we’re ready to play for each other and for the country. I think we can improve on our turnovers. We have had way too many. We also need to improve on our shooting, but I think we should continue to instill confidence in our shooters so they can improve too.”

Hosts, Rwanda, Cameroun and Mali are the other teams that are through to the quarterfinals. D’Tigress are top of Group D in the championship in which Senegal, Congo and Guinea are yet to record