Nigeria’s women Junior basketball team, D’Tigress are out of the title race at the ongoing FIBA U-19 Women’s Basketball World Cup in Brno, Czechia
The team suffered a 77-51 defeat at the hands of Hungary during their round of 16 clash on Wednesday
The Juliana Akhere-led side had finished in third position in Group B behind Canada and Portugal, after recording one win and two losses during the round-robin phase, thereby amassing a total of four points. The team, which was making her debut at the competition, began their campaign with a 93-88 win against China, before suffering defeats to Canada and Portugal, respectively.
Nonetheless, Nigeria went through to the knockout rounds, where they took on Hungary with a place in the quarter-finals at stake. The first quarter was a close affair between both sides, with the scores level at 9-9. However, things turned sour for Nigeria as they lost the remaining three quarters 30-12, 16-15, 22-15.
The 2024 FIBA U-18 Women’s Afrobasket runners-up managed 64 field goal attempts compared to Hungary’s 74, with the field goal percentage pegged at 27 while the Eastern Europeans recorded 38 per cent. The Hungarians also outscored Nigeria on the assists chart with 27 points as against eight from the junior D’Tigress. They equally made 51 rebounds, six blocks and five steals.
Nigeria, on the other hand, put up 37 rebounds, four blocks and seven steals in the process. Toby Nweke was Nigeria’s best performer on the day, as she put up a team-high 12 points and four rebounds. Jessica Ajayi was also immense as she contributed 11 points and four rebounds, while Momoluwa Tewogbade recorded nine points and three rebounds.
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Hungary’s Jesopovits Kinga scored a game-high 19 points and eight rebounds, while Dora Toman and Szidonia Albert both registered 17 and 11 points, respectively.
Following the defeat, Nigeria can no longer win the World Cup, though they will proceed to the classification rounds, where they will play one more game for the right to finish in positions 9 to 16.
Editor : Ena Agbanoma
