D’Tigress win historic fourth consecutive AfroBasket title

<p>The Nigeria national women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, on Saturday in the final of the 2023 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket tournament beat Senegal 84-74 in a thrilling encounter to emerge champions of Africa for the fourth consecutive time, PUNCH Sport Extra reports.</p>, <p>The victory means Nigeria became only the second team ever after Senegal to win four consecutive titles and did so in style by extending their unbeaten run to 23 games.</p>, <p>The last time Nigeria lost a game in the Women’s AfroBasket was in 2015 against Cameroon in the semi-finals.</p>, <p>After struggling to beat Mozambique 59-52 in the quarter-finals to set up a last-four showdown with the hosts, Rwanda — whom they had defeated in their previous two meetings 2009 and 2011, the champions outclassed hosts Rwanda 79-48 in the semi-finals on Thursday.</p>, <p>They continued with their fine display under new coach Rena Wakama with a victory over Senegal.</p>, <p>Despite getting the first basket through Amy Okonkwo, the D’Tigress fell behind as Senegal led 4-2 before Elizabeth Balogun got three points that put them ahead again.</p>, <p>Wakama’s team refused to relinquish their lead throughout the encounter with the first quarter ending 19-10 in favour of Nigeria.</p>, <p>The Senegalese settled better in the second quarter but met resistance from their opponents with Tomi Taiwo, Ifunaya Okoro and Sarah Ogoke all netting three points for the D’Tigress.</p>, <p>After the second quarter, D’Tigress held a 12-point lead to the locker room as the half ended 43-31.</p>, <p>It was a good start from Senegal in the third quarter as they had a 10-4 run after the break. They outscored Nigeria 13-4 forcing D’Tigress to call for a timeout.</p>, <p>Like in the previous games, the D’Tigress third quarter raised some eyebrows as they were outscored by their opponents with the quarter ending 62-57.</p>, <p>It was a good start from the champions in the fourth quarter with captain Ogoke driving the team as they restored their 10-point lead.</p>, <p>It was a tightly