Nigeria Advances To Women’s AfroBasket Semis After Beating Mozambique
D’Tigress of Nigeria extended its winning streak in Africa to 22 straight victories after beating Mozambique 59-52 at the 2023 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket tournament, setting up a semi-final clash against hosts Rwanda.
Mozambique led at the break after securing 18-16 and 15-13 wins in the first and second quarters, respectively. However, Nigeria overcame their nerves to eventually turn the tables around.
D’Tigress outscored Mozambique 18-10 in the third quarter to set the tone to claiming the win, before a close 12-9 win in the fourth to see out a 59 – 52 victory.
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Nigeria overcame Mozambique pressure to get a 59-52 win and reach the semis!#AfroBasketWomen pic.twitter.com/lPX1y7wyFv
— FIBA Women’s Afrobasket (@afrobasketwomen) August 2, 2023
“Mozambique are a great team,and credit to them for putting up such a game. But we stayed together and we made it through,” D’Tigress guard Sarah Ogoke said.
Looking ahead to their semi-final fixture against Rwanda, Obote also shared a few words.
“We’re going to be playing against the stadium, against the fans, against the entire country,” Obote added. “So it’s going to be very difficult.”
We will try to get us to Saturday’s final and to the 2024 Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT). We definitely have what it takes to make it four titles in a row and we have a way of making things happen. And we’ll find a way.”
Nigeria’s depth from the bench, which produced 22 of the 59 points helped the team get over the line.
D’Tigress also made the difference on free throws ratio, having 14 for 18 free throws which gave them the edge over Mozambique, who had 16 from 24 attempts.
The @DtigressNG extended their #AfroBasketWomen winning streak to 22-0 and qualify for this year’s semi-final! pic.twitter.com/jJtnqPuqoN
— FIBA Women’s Afrobasket (@afrobasketwomen) August 3, 2023
