How Customs Women Basketballers Lost $50,000

 Pius Ayinor

$50,000 is a good lump of cash anywhere and in the Nigeria of today, it is more than just good money. It is a huge windfall. This is what the Nigeria Customs ladies lost on Tuesday by losing the final match of the Nigerian women’s basketball league.  

In the reverse, the MFM team stamped their feet harder in the Nigerian basketball scene by winning the 2024 Zenith Bank Women’s Basketball League. MFM achieved the feat by defeating the Customs team 64-53 in a thriller of a game played at the National Stadium in Lagos. It was a back-to-back title triumph for MFM.

So much was expected from the two teams for the final match. Both teams were duly matched but much more was expected from the Customs women. Going by the four games they had played in Final-8 in Lagos, the MFM ladies had exhibited better fighting spirit from the tip-off to the buzzer but the Customs women were not going to step out for just the trophy and the continental ticket, they had something huge attached to a win.

Extrasportsnigeria had learned that the Customs Comptroller General, Mr Wale Adeniyi had promised the players a $50,000 match-winning bonus should they win the title.

Customs coach Abdulrahman Mohammed spoke about the cash promise after defeating erstwhile champions First Bank in the semi-finals.

He said, “The players have trained hard and they playing well as they are very conscious of the level of opposition in the playoff. But I will tell you for one that they are very motivated and that is a very good push for us.

“They have been promised $50,000 (Fifty thousand dollars) if they win the cup tomorrow. The first stage promise was redeemed immediately so they knew it would take the same pattern with the final match too. So they have so much to play for.”

They were promised $5,000 for the first level victory and they got it immediately so those at the spectators’ stand expected them to play the final match like the fighters they were in the semi-final stage but on a day so much was expected of them they fell short. The day so much was expected of them, they could hardly do anything right in the first quarter of the match against MFM, and that cost them the badly needed victory.

“The first five minutes made the difference. You don’t allow a very fit opponent to take such a lead and then play the catch-up,” Abdulrahman, a former guard of D’Tigers said after the match against MFM.

It was not all loss for the Customs as both teams have picked the tickets to the African championship as just as they both did last year. The continental games will start by the end of October with the FIBA Africa Zone 3 qualifiers in Liberia.

The Zenith Bank Women’s League started with the Conference games in August in the Atlantic and Savannah.