Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, will be looking to return to winning ways when they face the Philippines on Matchday 3 of the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournament in Lyon, France on Saturday (today), following a chastening 77-60 defeat to South Korea that interrupted a bright start to their campaign.
The African champions had opened the tournament impressively, thrashing Colombia 70-37 in their first outing. However, a youthful and physically aggressive South Korean side proved a different proposition entirely, disrupting Nigeria’s rhythm with relentless defence, denying passing lanes and double-teaming key players throughout.
A tight first half, which Nigeria entered trailing 36-32, gave way to a collapse in the third and fourth quarters as the Koreans pulled clear. The 22 turnovers Nigeria committed proved particularly costly, with South Korea converting 33 points directly from them.
Head coach Rena Wakama was candid in her assessment after the defeat.
‘Korea is a great team. We struggled today with shooting the ball. We turned the ball over 22 times. Struggling to shoot and turning over that many times makes the game even tighter. They did a great job — very physical, denying passing lanes and double-teaming whenever we had the ball. Credit to them’, she said.
Despite the loss, Wakama was keen to stress that the setback would not derail confidence within the camp.
‘Mentally we are fine. We are not going to overreact to a loss. It is lessons and losses. We are going to take the lessons from this game and try to get better for our next game’, the coach added.
Veteran centre Victoria Macaulay, who had earned the Most Valuable Player award after scoring 22 points and grabbing six rebounds against Colombia, also reflected on the Korea game.
‘It was definitely a competitive one. We knew Korea was a fast-shooting team. We tried to prepare as best as we could to defend them. It is just a lesson learnt and we will get better’, she said.
It is worth noting that D’Tigress and Germany have already secured qualification for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup scheduled for September in Berlin, meaning their participation in the Lyon qualifying tournament serves primarily as preparation for the global showpiece rather than a fight for survival. South Korea, however, are chasing one of the two remaining World Cup tickets on offer.
Elsewhere in the competition, both South Sudan and Senegal are still searching for their first wins after two games. Senegal fell to the United States before losing 84-51 to Spain, while South Sudan suffered defeats against China and Brazil. Mali boosted their World Cup hopes with a 77-64 win over the Czech Republic after opening with a loss to China.
D’Tigress face the Philippines on Saturday before concluding their campaign against France and Germany.
