Nigeria beat Senegal to retain Afrobasket title

Nigeria’s female basketball team D’Tigress on Sunday defeated Senegal 60-55 to win the 2019 women’s Afrobasket title they won two years ago.

The final match played at the at the Dakar Arena, Senegal saw about 15,000 fans watch the Nigerian ladies overpower the tournament host Senegal to win back-to-back titles.

The result means D’Tigress became the first team to win back-to-back FIBA Women’s AfroBasket titles since Angola followed up their 2011 triumph with another in 2013.

To make it to the final, Nigeria eased past Mali, 79-58, in Friday’s first semifinal, while Senegal defeated Mozambique 60-57.

Nigeria had in the early stages defeated Tunisia (75-26), Cameroon (106-39), DR Congo (79-46) and Mali (79-58) by an average of 42.5 points, while Senegal beat Cote d’Ivoire (77-36), Egypt (85-47), Angola (88-54) and Mozambique 60-57 by an average of 29 points.

Senegal were hoping to become the next team to win the tournament at home after D’Tigress claimed the 2005 continental in Abuja.

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Meanwhile, President Muhammadu Buhari has felicitated with national female basketball team, D’Tigress, for a highly impressive outing at the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket 2019 in Dakar, Senegal, winning the hosts at the final by 60-55.

President Buhari, in a statement by his spokesman, Malam Garba Shehu, in Abuja late Sunday night, congratulated the team for the remarkably synergized play.

The president observed that this had enabled them to outpace and outplay all the teams at the tournament to retain the title they won in 2017, further consolidating their position as African champions with four titles.

He commended the team for ”discipline, maturity and focus all through the tournament, and deliberateness in promoting the Nigerian flag and accompanying virtues of resilience, persistence and dogged pursuit until victory was achieved.”

President Buhari expressed appreciation to all the officials and technical hands that guided the team to win the African title, urging them to remain focused in deploying such energy and talent in subsequent global tournaments.