D’Tigress beats Guinea, seeks second round ticket against Senegal today

Nigeria’s D’Tigress continued its resurgence at the on-going Afrobasket Women Championship in Cameroun yesterday by beating Guinea 100 to 47 in their third game of the competition.

The D’Tigress lost its first match to Angola, but bounced back with a 97-68 victory over Egypt on Saturday before yesterday’s defeat of Guinea.

Joyce Ekworomadu inspired five other Nigerians, who scored 12 points or more, while Nadia Peruch-Niang paced Guinea with 17 points and seven rebounds.

Guinea, in the second quarter, made three shots from beyond the arc, cutting the deficit to just 13 points, but it was a matter of time as Nigeria went on to close the third quarter with a 73-40 lead.

D’Tigress’ Helen Ogunjimi came off the bench to make 15 of her game-high 19 points from beyond the arc.

Guinea is in Yaoundé with a nine-player roster, and keeping Peruch-Niang on floor for the entire first three quarters indicated the struggles they face in the competition.

While D’Tigress, who led the entire contest, climbed to third place in Group B with a 2-1 mark, Guinea conceded their third defeat in as many games.

Eventually Peruchi-Niang summed up Guinea aspirations in the competition to fiba.com: “I have told the girls not to worry about the score. Those teams Senegal and Nigeria are way too ahead of us. But we still have to get better and learn from our mistakes.”

Nigeria’s victory on Saturday was Egypt’s first loss in the tournament in Yaoundé, Cameroon, which serves as the African qualifier for the Rio 2016 Olympics.