Nigeria’s female basketball national team, D’Tigress have gained words of applause from the coach of USA’s squad, Dawn Staley, who says her side’s FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup quarter-finals opponents gave a good fight in their match on Friday.
Though the Americans eventually won the game 71-40 in Tenerife, Spain, Staley admitted it was a tough encounter, especially as her team had to battle back from behind in the first quarter.
D’Tigress are the first African team to reach the quarterfinals of the World Cup. They won three consecutive matches against Turkey, Argentina and Greece to reach the quarterfinal.
It was the Nigerian team’s second appearance since the tournament was first hosted by Chile in 1953 but, at their first outing in 2006, D’Tigress failed to win a single match.
In Friday’s game, USA started slowly, as D’Tigress pegged the world champions back in their half of the court.
Nigeria won the first quarter 17-9 but a loss of concentration in the second quarter brought USA back in the game with an 18-6 win.
Ezinne Kalu was the top performer for Nigeria as she accounted for eight points, four rebounds, six assists and five steals.
Former Dallas Wings forward Evelyn Akhator also weighed in eight points and five rebounds, but Breanna Stewart led the game for USA with 19 points, three rebounds and five assists.
The Americans converted 43 per cent of their two point field goals against Nigeria’s 28 per cent. D’Tigress had a three point field goal conversion rate of 14 per cent against 36 per cent for USA.
Nigeria had a total of 32 rebounds and USA had 62. The defending champions had 23 turnovers in their favour against Nigeria’s 22.
USA converted 59 per cent of their free throws while D’Tigress converted 40 per cent of theirs. Nigerian players made 10 assists while the American players made 22.
D’Tigress made 10 steals against the seven made by the Americans. USA players raked up seven blocks with Nigeria managing only two.
Nigeria’s bench proved less effective on the day as they accounted for only 15 points while the Americans got 31 points from the bench.
USA held a lead of 31-9 before D’Tigress could get a point in the match, and the holders got 38 points in the paint while Nigeria managed 14 points.
However, USA took control of the game in the third quarter – winning 19-12 – and completed the last quarter with a 25-5 win, but Staley said the Nigerians were difficult to beat and stressed that her lasses played against a good opponent.
Staley said: “It was a hard-fought game. Nigeria came out and pressured us and it bothered us, probably in the first 20 minutes of the game, and then we made an adjustment in the style of play.
“We started making plays in the second half. Hats off to Nigeria for giving us a tough game, but at the same time I am proud of the team for making the adjustments needed and turning it around in the first.”
