D’Tigress subdue Cameroon, meet Congo in today’s quarterfinals

Reigning African queens, D’Tigress of Nigeria yesterday in Dakar defeated Cameroon in their second game of Group B to book a quarterfinal date with Congo at the on-going FIBA Women Afrobasket holding in Senegal.

The game, a quarterfinal qualifier for both teams, who had previously thrashed Tunisia in their first group games respectively, tipped off with a strong offense from Coach Otis tutored Nigerian side.

Nigeria won the first quarter 21-7.

In the second quarter, Coach Cumming-Price of Cameroon tried to get her players into the game, using her big men to garner fouls and shoot from the free-throw line. The Nigerian bench was quick to neutralize the attack by the infusion of Aisha Mohammed Balarabe, a more experienced post player. The second quarter ended 49- 23 in favour of Nigeria.

After the half time benchmark, D’Tigress came on the floor with total dominance on offense and an airtight defense which left the Camerounians disoriented and in disarray. The third and fourth quarters ended 72-33 and 106-39 respectively in Nigeria’s favour.

The top performers for Nigeria were Promise Amukamara, who controlled the floor and aced 14 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals, and Cameroon’s Amina Njoukou had 16 points, eight rebounds, one assist and two steals.

Nigeria will meet Congo, which finished third in Group B in today’s quarterfinals.

Speaking on the game, D’Tigress Coach, Otis Hughley said, “We will treat every game the same because everyone will come out to play. Go in with the same attitude we always have, to play hard from beginning to end. We respect all opponents for we know any team can be beaten if not properly prepared. However, we hope at the end of the game they respect us too” 

The match will start at 11.30 a.m. at the Dakar Arena.

Meanwhile, Nigerian women basketball’s major sponsor, Zenith Bank has congratulated the D’Tigress for picking quarterfinal ticket with ease at the ongoing championship.

Group Managing Director of Zenith Bank, Ebenezer Onyeagwu said the feat achieved so far by D’Tigress was not a surprise, adding, “We are aware that our girls are the best in Africa. We congratulate the team for getting this far, but it is obvious that the tournament is just beginning for top teams like Nigeria.

“The higher you go, the tougher it gets and so we expect D’Tigress to double their efforts in the final stages so that the trophy will come back to Nigeria.

“D’ Tigress have a crop of professionals, some of whom were part of the Zenith Basketball League which we have sponsored for 15 years running. We are confident that the team has all it takes to go all the way in Senegal.”