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D’Tigress one win away from Afrobasket three-peat, to battle Mali for glory

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Nigeria women’s basketball team, D’Tigress are just one win away from clinching a third consecutive FIBA Afrobasket title.

The Nigerian ladies put up a thrilling performance on Friday to see off Senegal in the semifinal of the ongoing women’s championship in Yaounde, Cameroon.

D’Tigress, who lifted the 2017 and 2019 titles, have now qualified for their third consecutive final of the competition with a 73-63 points win.

Mame-Marie Sy-Diop was the best scorer of the night with 18 points for the losing team, while Nigeria had 16 points from Amy Okonkwo and 14 from Ify Ibekwe.

Guard Ezinne Kalu was surprisingly silent against Senegal hitting home three points.

Read Also: Journey to Three-peat: D’Tigress beat Cote d’Ivoire to reach Afrobasket semifinals

With that semifinal win, Nigeria will now face Mali in the final on Sunday.

To get to the final, the Malians edged Cameroon after winning their contest by just one point.

The Malians stunned hosts Cameroon 52-51 also on Friday to reach the final and also join Nigeria to qualify for the 2022 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Sydney, Australia.

Mali are the third-highest scoring side, averaging 75.8 points, and they top the rebounding chart with 54.5 boards per game.

The final between Mali and Nigeria is billed for Sunday by 6:00p.m.

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