Nigeria’s D’Tigress kept their 2022 Fiba Women’s Basketball World Cup hopes alive as they came back from losing the first quarter to beat world number 5, France 67-65 in a World Cup qualifying game on Friday.
They took the game to the French side winning the last three quarters 16-10, 21-14 and 19-13, after losing the first quarter 11-28.
D’Tigress, Nigeria’s female team are currently ranked 15th in the world and number one in Africa.
Nigeria were 11-28 behind after the first quarter.
But, after a resurgence to win 16-10 in the second quarter, they were still trailing the French team 27-38 after the game’s long break.
They came back stronger in the third and fourth quarters to win 21-14 and 19-13 respectively to go on to win 67-65 and beat the number five rated team in the world.
The win was just enough for them to book their second consecutive World Cup outing, with a game to spare.
Victoria Macaulay scored 19 points while contributing four assists, four rebounds, five steals and four blocks to help the team secure their first-ever win against France.
Oderah Chidom also contributed 13 points, five assists and six rebounds to help D’Tigress avenge their 2020 Olympics and 2018 FIBA World Cup defeats.
Promise Amukamara and Adaora Elonu added 10 points each.
They will battle Mali in their game in the qualifier series. The Nigerian side are now second behind China.
Source: Punch
