PARIS OLYMPIC GAMES
The Nigeria Senior Women’s Basketball team, D’Tigress, slumped to a second consecutive defeat, losing 70-62 in the pre-Olympics friendly to Serbia on Sunday.
Dtigress began the first quarter in a quest to make amends after losing their first pre-Olympics clash by a 14-point margin, 77-63, against Germany.
D’Tigress, unable to keep up with the Serbs’ pace, trailed by six points, 21-15.
Rena Wakama’s team had no answer to the dominant display from the Serbian team in the second quarter, as they extended their lead to a 10-point margin of 39-29.
The African champions lost the third quarter by 55–45 points. The 10th-ranked country in the FIBA World Ranking maintained their grit to secure victory in the fourth quarter.
The Nigerian team will play their final warm-up game against Japan on Wednesday in Lille, France, before the start of the basketball event at the Olympics.
Nigeria faces a herculean task in Group B, going head-to-head against Canada, Australia, and host France.
Ahead of the upcoming Paris 2024 Olympics, D’Tigress will make their third appearance at the games after debuting at Athens 2004 and qualifying for Tokyo 2020.
At both Athens 2004 and Tokyo 2020, they failed to go beyond the group stages.
Persecondnews recalls that D’Tigress opened their pre-Olympic friendly schedule with a 77-63 defeat to Germany on Friday in Berlin.
Wakama’s team got off the block quick, edging out the Germans in the first quarter 18-17.
However, Germany responded fiercely in the second, outscoring the African champions 23–13. The decisive 23-point swing left D’Tigress trailing 40-31 at halftime.
Coach Rena Wakama’s team showed resilience, taking the third quarter 18-15. Unfortunately, they could not maintain the momentum in the final period, which Germany claimed 24–14.
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