Nigeria’s female basketball national team, D’Tigress coach, Otis Hughley has put his side’s loss to USA in the quarter finals of the FIBA Women’s World Cup on the Americans’ ability to shoot better to get crucial points.
While admitting he would have loved to beat his own country in Friday’s quarter-final clash in Tenerife, Spain, Hughley admitted his players fell short in converting useful points.
Though the Americans eventually won the game 71-40, Hughley insists he was proud of his ladies, as they gave the game their very best from the word go.
However, the tactician, who joined the team barely a month to the start of the competition, following the dismissal of his compatriot, Sam Vincent, said D’Tigress had already gone beyond all expectation.
He went on to describe the players as his ‘daughters,’ as he became very attached to them during the course of the competition, in which he stressed that they gave every match the best they could.
Hughley added: “I thought they fought really well in the first half. I think the difference in the game is who shot well. I thought we played exponentially above what we have.
“I’ve never felt so happy after a 31-point loss. Our girls dug down until there was nothing left. I love these girls. I have two biological daughters and I feel like I have 12 more daughters.”
