D’Tigress defeat Senegalese counterparts 84–74 to win fourth straight Afrobasket title

Igoch Mark has lauded  Nigeria’s senior women basketball team, D’Tigress, for their victory at the 2023 Afrobasket championship in Kigali, Rwanda.
The defending champions, D’Tigress, on Saturday, defeated their Senegalese counterparts 84 – 74 in the final of the championship to win their fourth straight title.
D’Tigress has been dominant in the competition since 2017 without losing any match.
The  superlative performance of Amy Okonkwo, Murjanatu Musa, Sarah Ogoke and Ifunaya Okoro was just what the team needed to lift the trophy fourth consecutive time. Okonkwo as usual, unleashed the necessary qualities that kept Senegal on the back foot, she was so fantastic throughout the competition.
Her efforts were acknowledged as she won for herself the tournament’s Most Valuable Player (MVP) award.
D’Tigress dominated the game and never gave Senegal any chance to dream big, recording 19-10, 24-21, 26-19 and 22-17 in the four quarters of the game.
History was also made as the Head Coach of D’ Tigress, Rena Wakama, was the first indigenous female coach to lead a national team to  win the Afrobasket championship trophy.
In a post match conference, Wakama praised the team for the doggedness, hard work and passion to achieve such feat in short time they were put together. “I’m very proud of my players they deserve the accolades indeed this is  a great achievement that should be rewarded.
“We did not have enough time to train together but yet they brought their professionalism and did marvelously to win the trophy,” Wakama said.
In a reaction, Queen Moseph,  a Sports journalist  described the victory as wonderful as the players proved their qualities and their passion to win for the nation.
“We are very happy for them, they deserve the praises as they have lifted the spirits of many basketball loving Nigeria’s.
“We have always believe in them and winning four straight championship title shows how incredible the senior national team is,” Moseph said.
Kelechi Benard, a sports commentator, described the victory as a very good one for Nigeria especially for the girls who were just come  together for a week to train.
“The team have proved to many basketball faithful that hard work pays and team coordination is just what can make us to achieve more,” he  said.
Oreoluwa Ogbomanu, in his assessment of the victory, described the D’Tigress as heroines and should be well remunerated for their achievement.

An elated Mark said that D’Tigress victory was confirmation of her dominance of the sport in Africa.
He commended the team for their superlative performance in the tournament and praised them for doing the nation proud.
“Clearly now D’Tigress dominance of the sport is indisputable.
“This is the evidence that Nigeria’s women basketball can be ranked as a World-class programme.

“We have to sustain this momentum. This is remarkable, winning the Afrobasket Championships for an unprecedented fourth time.
“I salute the team (D’Tigress) for their professional commitment and execution. They have indeed put smiles on the faces of Nigerians and have done the nation proud against all odds,” he said.
Nigeria has been on top of women’s basketball in Africa after winning it five times in 2003, 2005, 2017, 2019 and 2021.
The 2023 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket was a remake of the 2019 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket that was hosted by Senegal in which Nigeria won their second straight title after seeing off the hosts 60-55 in a packed Dakar Arena.
They would later meet again, this time at the 2021 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket semi-fnals in Yaounde, Cameroon, where Nigeria once again walked away with a flawless 73-63 victory.
Nigeria would later claim the famous three-peat in the capital city of Cameroon.
D’Tigress had a smooth start to their tournament and kept a perfect record since setting foot on the court at the BK Arena on July 28 enroute to the final.
They finished with significant victories over DR Congo, Egypt, Mozambique and hosts Rwanda before beating Senegal in Saturday’s final.
Rena Wakama, a former player who led D’Tigress to victory, was the only female head coach at the 2023 edition of FIBA’s flagship event for women.
The result also meant she became the first female coach to have accomplished this feat in the history of the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket championship.