Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, crashed out of the 2024 Olympic Games after losing 88-74 to the United States of America in the quarterfinals of the women’s basketball event on Wednesday, The PUNCH reports.
While it was business as usual for the USA as they continued to bear down on yet another successful title defence, Nigeria bowed out of the competition as basketball heroes.
Having exceeded expectations by making it to the last 16—a feat no other African team has achieved—the Nigerians were hoping to book a place in the semi-finals of the competition at the expense of the Americans.
Clearly unafraid of the Americans, who seek an unprecedented eighth consecutive gold medal, Rena Wakama’s side started on a bright note.
The Americans won the opening tip with A’ja Wilson getting the Americans on the board with an early layup.
D’Tigress knew it would take an Athenian effort to topple the U.S. team that boasts eight players who were at one point the No. 1 overall pick in the WNBA draft, but they were not ready to back down, and they immediately levelled things up.
After a stagnated opening minute, Breanna Stewart ended the short drought with a transition layup on a feed from Chelsea Gray. However, Nigeria responded immediately with a layup from Pallas Kunaiyi-Akpanah on the other end to make it 4-4.
Jackie Young, who started the game in defence, had two nice bucks early to open up the gap, forcing D’Tigress to play catch-up for the entire game.
The encounter at the Bercy Arena wasn’t a repeat of the USA’s 56-point win over Nigeria in February during the qualifiers in Belgium, and D’Tigress will be proud of their performance in the last quarter.
After losing the first three quarters, the African champions were sensational in the final quarter, claiming a 26-12 win to win the hearts of basketball fans not only in Africa but beyond.
D’Tigress head home having sent positive shockwaves around the basketball world.
The U.S. women’s win streak dates back to 1992 and covers nine Olympic Games and seven straight gold medals.
