Nigeria’s D’Tigress on Tuesday added a chapter to the history of African basketball as they qualified for the quarter-final at the ongoing 18th FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Spain.
The reigning African champions lived up to their promise of subduing their counterparts from Argentina, as they ended the last group B match at the San Cristobal de la Laguna court, Tenerife 75-70.
DTigress, ranked 34th in the world, after a poor start against Australia (88-68) came back stronger to beat Turkey on Sunday 74-68, before the fall of Argentina ranked 15th in the world, who had earlier lost their two previous games.
Nigeria, it will be recalled, lost all their group games during their debut appearance in 2006.
D’Tigress on Tuesday led the first quarter 19-13 but the South Americans rallied to a 16-13 win in the second quarter.
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The third quarter was the most interesting of the match as both sides grabbed 19 points apiece to make it 51-48 still in favour of D’Tigress, while the Otis Hughley-side eventually won the last quarter 24-22 to end the game 75-70 and advance to the knockout stage of the global championship.
Nigeria will now face Greece tomorrow for a semi-final ticket.
Meanwhile, Australia also on Tuesday defeated Turkey 90-64 to top the group without losing a game.