D’Tigress trailed Mozambique from the tip off through the third quarter in a nail-biting group game at the 2025 Afrobasket ongoing in Abidjan but they recovered to win the match 60-55 on Monday. Team captain Amy Okonkwo said getting into proper rhythm was slow for the back-to-back African champions.
“Mozambique is a really good team. They’re well-coached, they ran their plays well, and they played beautifully together. It was a tough game, but we pulled it out and got the win. At first, they were playing harder than us, but we found our rhythm and started making defensive stops. I think that was the difference between us,” she said at the post match conference.
At the end of it all, Nigeria and Mozambique reminded everyone why this is one of the most anticipated matchups in women’s African basketball.
For most of the 40 minutes, both teams traded blows. However, the reigning champions eventually prevailed, 60-55, advancing to the quarterfinals as Group D winners with a perfect 2-0 record.
Credit is due to Nigeria, who brought their experience and desire to remain undefeated in 26 Women’s AfroBasket games dating back to 2015.
As the saying goes, big players step up in big moments, and that’s exactly what Ezinne Kalu, the 2019 Women’s AfroBasket Most Valuable Player (MVP), did.
She displayed all her skills to avoid what would have been an astonishing upset.
Turning Point
Nigeria trailed at halftime, 28-24, and entered the final quarter one point behind, 43-42. However, it was during the last four minutes of the game that the D’Tigress secured their 26th tournament win.
Nigeria’s resurgence began with Promise Amukamara’s three-pointer, which gave Nigeria a 45-43 lead at the beginning of the fourth quarter.
Nigeria then played more aggressively on defense, and Mozambique struggled to keep up. Kalu scored a layup, followed by a free throw, leaving Mozambique in trouble.
However, Mozambique managed to fight back with a drive by Inglid Mucauro that cut the deficit to 50-49 with 4:30 minutes remaining.
At this moment, when things looked promising for Mozambique, Leia Dongue, one of their most productive players, fouled out. Carla Covane, an indispensable physical presence for Mozambique in the paint, also fouled out with 4:13 remaining. Nigeria capitalized on their absence to secure the victory.
Ezinne gave everything she possibly could. She turned out Mozambique’s main disruptor, finishing with game-highs of 16 points and five steals.
Murjunatu Musa came out with a double-double of 12 points and 12 rebounds to join Kalu as Nigeria’s most productive assets.
Mozambique’s 20 turnovers could only have serious consequences, and Nigeria capitalized on 10 of them to score 12 points early on. They eventually scored 10 more points off of Mozambique’s turnovers.
Extrasportnigeria 
Leave a comment