Nigeria women’s basketball team D’Tigress bowed out on a high after a spirited fightback against 8-time Olympics champions USA in Paris.
The encounter, deemed ‘mission impossible’ for Nigeria, given ‘Team USA’s’ success in the sport, however, turned out to be closer than expected, as the Nigerian team showed lots of guts in the final quarter.
Going into the final quarter, D’Tigress trailed by 28 points, having lost the previous three rounds at 17-26, 16-26, and 15-24, respectively.
However, the Nigerians staged a spirited fightback in the fourth quarter, winning the round 26-12, to trim the deficit to just 14 points.
Fans laud D’Tigress’ impressive performance
Despite losing 74-88 to USA, fans took to social media to laud D’Tigress’ display against the defending champions, with some claiming they would have won if the time had been extended.
”If there was a 5th Quarter I’m certain we would have won USA and with a large margin too,” one wrote.
Another said, ”We’re so proud of you, ladies! You did so well throughout the tournament, and ending the game 26-12 in the final quarter was really great. Champs! 🇳🇬”
A third commented, ”It’s was a good fight👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾 Thank you all for repping so well till the end.”
This is not the first time D’Tigress have impressed at the Paris Olympics. Enroute to the quarterfinals against USA, the team defeated the third ranked team in the world, Australia in their first game, before finishing the group stage with a 79-70 victory over Canada, securing a spot in the knockout stage of the competition—the first African team achieve this feat.
