The Junior D’Tigress takes on Uganda on Friday at the University of Pretoria, South Africa, in the semi-final of the FIBA U18 Women’s Afrobasket.
This is coming on the heels of Nigeria, which secured a 66-51 victory against Egypt to advance to the semifinals of the U18 Women’s Afrobasket. Despite qualifying as one of the two best third-place finishers from the Group Phase, Nigeria overpowered the reigning silver medalists.
Abigail Isaac led Nigeria with an impressive double-double of 15 points and 12 rebounds, while Idubamo contributed 13 points and 7 assists. Nigeria’s early dominance was evident, taking a 6-1 lead and extending it to 11-3. By the end of the first quarter, they had built a commanding 24-13 advantage, leaving Egypt struggling to catch up.
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Juliana Ojoshogu Negedu’s team maintained their momentum in the second quarter, pushing their lead to 32-19. Egypt fought back, but a strong defensive performance from Nigeria made it difficult for the North Africans to recover. In the third quarter, Nigeria widened the gap with a 17-13 run, holding off Egypt’s attempts at a comeback.
Egypt managed to outscore Nigeria 15-12 in the final quarter, but it wasn’t enough to overturn the deficit. Nigerian coach Juliana Ojoshogu praised her team’s resilience and strategy, noting that they successfully neutralized Egypt’s top scorers.
Mali became the first team to stamp their semi-final tickets after beating Rwanda 86-57 in Wednesday’s first quarter-finals series at the University of Pretoria.
In the second quarterfinal match of the day, Uganda shocked Tunisia 69-53 to record their first-ever semi-final slot in the history of the tournament. It was Tunisia’s first defeat in the tournament after an impressive 3-0 run in the Group Phase, while Cameroon beat Angola 65-63 to reach the Last Four of the tournament for the first time.
