Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, lost 75-54 to France in a 21-point margin in their second group-stage clash at the Paris 2024 Olympics women’s basketball tournament on Thursday, August 1, Completesports.com reports.
D’Tigress, who stunned the world by outclassing Australia with a 13-point margin, 75-62, in their Group B opener on Monday, July 29, to secure their first win of the campaign, started strong in the first quarter against France, trailing by four points, 24-20.
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D’Tigress showed resilience in the second quarter as they played their highly defensive tactics, which gave the host nation a daunting task to break. However, France maintained their lead to end the quarter 38-33.
The third quarter saw a shift in momentum as the host nation extended their lead to 13 points, 54-41, breaking through D’Tigress’ defense and dampening their enthusiasm.
The widening gap in the third quarter left D’Tigress facing a double-digit deficit in the fourth quarter, where Rena Wakama’s team fought hard but ultimately fell to a 21-point defeat.
D’Tigress’ Ezinne Kalu recorded 18 points, while France’s Marie Johannes scored 15.
The victory propelled France to the quarter-finals and maintained their top position in Group B, with Nigeria in second place. Australia and Canada are in third and fourth positions, respectively.
By Dotun Omisakin
3 Comments
Comeback against Canada to seal second place, Kudos to Ezinne Kalu for putting up another top performance. Amy Okonkwo please wake up and compliment Kalu if we must go far in this competition. France was always going to be hard to crack due to several factors but they’re beatable if Amy Okonkwo comes to party with her dominant style of play.
Is basketball mathematics? If the answer is yes, then Group B results so far suggest that Nigeria should be able to get the better of Canada.
To start with, France beat Canada and Nigeria by exactly the same scoreline of 75-54. This suggests that Canada and Nigeria are evenly matched.
This notion is supported by the result of the Australia-Canada game, with the Aussies just edging Canada to a 70-65 win.
If Australia who we defeated can beat Canada, so can we! Right?
But basketball is not mathematics. Sports in general is not mathematics.
Make no mistake about it. Canada is going to be a tough proposition. Especially as they find themselves in a situation where they desperately need a win. They need to beat Nigeria, and hope France do them a solid by beating the Aussies.
So yeah, it’s going to be a tough game. But it can be done! We can beat them.
If the D’Tigress can find the same intensity they had against the Aussies, rotate the ball well to give our 3 point shooters ample opportunities, and keep it tight defensively, a win is possible.
But we must not be complacent. A loss is also very possible.
Time to push hard. The next round beckons.
So far, Spain’s results have been quite interesting.
They’ve won their first 2 games by just a point.
They beat Puerto Rico 63-62, and they edged China 90-89.
Who said one point in basketball is not important?