2021 AfroBasket Women: ..And Nigeria wins again!
Three straights wins for the Nigerian Women’s Basketball team, record created only by Senegal in the history of AfroBasket back in the 1970’s. The D’Tigeress of Nigeria won in 2017, 2019 and in 2021 after subduing Mali to a 70-59 defeat at the Yaounde Multipurpose Sports Complex.
It was a West African derby but not a friendly gathering for the West African states of Mali and Nigeria. The Nigerian team on her part stood her grounds from the first quarter of the game and settled on a score 70-59 over Mali to win again this time on Cameroonians soil.
At the take off point, Nigeria took the lead with the first three points which helped them settle scores at the end of the first quarter on a score of 22-11 with an 11 point difference.
The second quarter was very competitive, Mali managed to score 13 points taking their total to 24 while the D’Tigeress in Nigeria could get only nine taking their point tally to 31.
It was new and determined Nigerian crew at the second half full of energy and hungry for more points. This time Mali sealed the deal and separated on a score of 38 points and Nigeria at 59.
The clash was visible, the hustle for the points for hard and the struggle to grab the trophy was glaring during the fourth and last quarter of the game. During the last whistle of the competition Nigeria had a record of 70 points and Mali 59.
It did not seem surprising to many supporters who watched Nigeria controlled almost every zone in the rectangular court with quality and resilience from a squad that just returned from the Olympic Games in Tokyo, Japan.
Neighbouring Nigeria leaves Cameroon with a well deserved title as the Champions of the 2021 AfroBasket Women and a clean sheet from match day-1 to the last game of the tournament
The Awards
Top five of the Tournament
# Playmaker – Kalu Ezinne (Nigeria)
# Forward – Diop Yacine (Senegal)
# Forward – Ewodo Marina Paule (Cameroon)
# Guard – Elonu Adaora (Nigeria)
# Guard – Coulibaly Mariam (Mali)
Individual Trophies
# Best Rebounder – Seda Tamara (Mozambique)
# Best Tri-point – Berte Salimata (Cote D’Ivoire)
# Best Scorer – Mohamed Nadine Sayed ( Egypt)
# Best Player – Elonu Adoara (Nigeria)
Awards
# Fair play – Cape Verde
# Bronze/Third placed team – Cameroon
# Silver/Runner-up – Mali
# Gold/ Trophy – Nigeria
Benly Anchunda
@anchunda_benly