The Nigerian female basketball national team, D’Tigress on Friday inched closer to qualifying for the 2022 FIBA Women’s World Cup after a 65-67 victory over France in their qualification match.
Although the Nigerian girls were down by 20 points after the opening exchanges, they gradually fought back and took the lead midway through the last quarter to set up a dramatic end, defeating their European counterparts for the first time.
Having lost their first game 90-76 to China and finding themselves at the bottom of the qualifying group, they took the game to the French side winning the last three quarters 16-10, 21-14 and 19-13, after losing the first quarter 11-28.
Victoria Macaulay had 19 points, 5 steals, 4 rebounds, and 4 assists, while France was punished by a massive 25 turnovers in the game.
Despite the loss however, France joined China to book their spot for the Sydney tournament due to their positive point average while Nigeria will have to vie for the remaining ticket in the group facing fellow West Africans, Mali.