By: Chinedum Ohanusi
The 28th edition of the FIBA Women’s Afrobasket championship which began on Friday, July 28th of July ends today, at the BK Arena in Kigali with the play-offs for third and fourth places, between Rwanda and Mali to be decided ahead of the championship final, between Senegal and Nigeria.
Host nation, the Amavubis of Rwanda were roundly beaten by defending champions, D’Tigress of Nigeria in the first semifinal; while 2021 beaten finalists Mali surprisingly lost the second semifinal to Senegal, despite having defeated the Teranga Lionesses at the group phase.
There’s so much at stake in the 2023 championship final, as the finalists are evenly-matched, at least on paper. From experienced to talented players, this year’s final is a potentially explosive clash between record seeking Nigeria and the tournament’s most successful team, Senegal.
Rwandan President, Paul Kagame is expected to again sit at the Director’s box, as both sides who have already exceeded their own expectations, are primed to give all they have to take home the most coveted trophy in women’s basketball on the continent.
Historically, Senegal are gunning for their 12th continental crown, while the D’Tigress will be looking to win for Nigeria, her fourth trophy, all in a row; and become only the second nation to have done so after the Lionesses of Senegal achieved the feat in 1974, 1977, 1979 and 1981.
Before it tips off,
Nigeria will be buoyed by the fact that they had a smooth start to their tournament and have kept a perfect record since they set foot on the court, at the BK Arena.
Senegal, on the other hand, are on a 3-2 series. They suffered losses against Uganda and Mali, but subsequently brought some changes to their habits and overcame Egypt, Cameroun and Mali to make it to the final.
The 2023 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket final, will be a remake of the 2019 final, that was hosted by Senegal; and won by the D’Tigress to give Nigeria her second straight title after seeing off the hosts 60-55 in a packed Dakar Arena.
They would later meet again, this time at the 2021 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket semifinals in Yaounde, Cameroun and Nigeria once again walk away with a flawless victory 73-63.
Between them, these two countries share 16 titles. The most decorated team is no doubt Senegal, who won the first edition in 1974 and have won the trophy 10 more times. Nigeria on the other hand are gunning for a famous four-peat in Rwanda, and remarkably the country they are striving to equal their record of four straight wins, is their opponent in today’s final – Senegal
D’Tigress of Nigeria who are in Kigali with a new Head Coach, Rena Wakama are presently ranked No.1 on the FIBA Africa women’s ranking, while Senegal are ranked 3rd, but their captain, Aya Traore has been to six editions of the tournament, played in four finals and was crowned MVP twice (2009, 2015).
D’Tigress captain, Sarah Ogoke has also featured in five Women’s AfroBasket tournaments, but was surprisingly left out of Nigeria’s Tokyo 2020 squad. Ogoke reached the Afrobasket final three times and has yet to lose one.
If coach Rena Wakama leads Nigeria to victory today in Kigali, she will be the first woman to have accomplished this feat in the history of the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket. On the other hand, if Senegal wins the tournament, their Coach Moustapha Gaye will add another medal to his collection after the ones he gathered in 2009 and 2015.
In classification games for 5th – 8th played on Friday, Mozambique were to strong, when defeating the Lionesses of Cameroun 74-65; and they did so by winning each of the closely fought four quarters; 14-12, 20-19, 19-14 and 21-20.
Tamara Seda contributed 16 points, 8 Assists, and 2 Steals for Mozambique, while Hermine Ngueko top scored with 20 points, got 10 Assists and made 2 Steals as Mozambique clinched 5th place, while Cameroun settled for 6th.
The play-off for the teams to finish 7th and 8th was between Uganda and Guinea; and it was emphatically won 85-44 by the Gazelles of Uganda, who as expected also won all of the four periods, of the one-sided game.