Sports

Nigeria’s D’Tigress end Egypt’s unbeaten run

Published

9 years ago

September 27, 2015

In from Nifemi Daniel …

There was wild jubilation in the camp of Nigeria’s senior women basketball team, the D’Tigress as the team stopped Egypt’s unbeaten run with a comprehensive 97-68 victory at the AfroBasket Women 2015 Group B match in Yaounde, Cameroon on Saturday.

The team which bounced back from their 57-51 loss to Angola during the group opening game on Friday, had Adaora Elonu inspiring with a game-best 20 points, while Egypt’s Menatalla Awad finished with a team-high 20 points.

The D’Tigress team which narrowly lost by one point to Egypt at the semi-final of the 2015 All African Games in Congo, stepped on floor in a desperation mode, using a 9-0 run in the first three minutes to close the opening quarter with a comfortable 29-12 lead.

And Elonu, who had a poor performance against Angola on Friday, counted a team-high 12 points in the first ten minutes of the contest.

By half-time Nigeria cruised to 61-28 lead, and Egypt seemed defeated for the remaining of the contest but eventually five Nigerians scored 10 points or more.

Elonu was the game-changer for Nigeria, especially because of her rampant entrance in the contest.

Nigeria bounced back from a close defeat to continental rivals Angola in style on Friday to improve their mark to 1-1. Everything worked out for Nigeria. They moved the ball exceptionally well (26 assists), made 37 of 85 field-goal shooting (43.5 percent). The result relaunches Nigeria in the title race as the team battles Guinea on Sunday before facing Senegal on Monday.

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