Nigeria’s junior D’Tigress, Mali, hit U-18 AfroBasket semifinals

Nigeria’s Junior Tigress punched their ticket for the semifinals of the 2024 AfroBasket U-18 Women’s Championship with a 66-51 win over Egypt, in Pretoria, South Africa, on Wednesday.

Nigeria won the first quarter 24-13 and maintained the lead as the teams went to the interval with scores at 37-23 to the junior D’Tigress’ advantage.

The Nigerian team won the third quarter 17-13, and Egypt’s efforts to get back into the game failed even though they won the fourth quarter 15-13. Abigail Isaac led the Nigerian team in scoring with 15 points, followed by 13 points from Idubamo Beggi, who also added a game-high seven rebounds.

It was a sensational comeback for Nigeria, as this was their second game against Egypt within one week. Egypt won that opening match 72-60, but the Nigerians got their revenge in the quarterfinals.

Meanwhile, Mali defeated Rwanda to pick a semifinal slot. Rwanda’s journey in the women’s Africa championship came to a shocking end as they stumbled on the University of Pretoria court.

Mali won the first two quarters, 19-11 and 25-15, respectively, to lead the game 44-26 at the break.

They continued that momentum into the third quarter, with a 21-20, and the final quarter sealed victory with a 21-11 demolition to successfully progress to the semifinals.

Rwanda’s Mama Sidiki Doumbia led the scores for Mali with 21 points, while Oumou Koumare and Maimouna Traore added 16 and 14 points, respectively. Despite the loss, Brigitte Nibishaka still proved her worth, scoring 16 points, while Vanessa Camara added 14 points.

The Nigerian girls will face Uganda in the second semifinal game on Friday, while Cameroon and Mali will take on each other in the other game. Rwanda still has to play a classification game for the fifth to eighth positions.

In the men’s category, Rwanda will face Cameroon in the quarterfinals. Rwanda and Mali, the only undefeated teams in the group phase, topped Groups A and C with 3-0 perfect records.

NAN