By

Eniola Olatunji 

The D'Tigress of Nigeria on Sunday night won her 7th AFROBASKET title beating Mali in a tough court duel 78-64 but maintaining her record of never losing an AFROBASKET final appearance.

Nigeria lost the 1st quarter 21-26, made a pulsating 41-41 at the end of the 2nd quarter winning it 20-15; she took the 3rd quarter 20-15 and 4th quarter at a good 17-8 to bring the total to 78-64 emphatic superiority over Mali. 

Mali made frantic efforts at recovery taking another Time Out at 02:34 left to end the game and N'Diaye's effort of a jump shot from the center didn't work but Victoria Macaulay's jump shot effort also from the center at 00:37 increased the score board points to Nigeria 78 Mali 64 which frustrated the Malian babes.

On stats, Nigeria got 10-5 fast break points; 40-26 points in the Paint and 17-14 points off Turnovers  but Mali had 15-8 on 2nd chance points and 26-22 points from the bench.

To get to the finals, Nigeria came from behind to beat her archrivals, Mali 75-68 while Mali had an easy stroll over South Sudan 76-50.

Match officials at the finals were Refs – Guzmen Julirys of Pur; Zouzou Nadega of CIV and Ahmed Aya Khaled of Egy while Match Commissioner is Olinga Joy Abooki.

Earlier, South Sudan shocked 11 times champions, Senegal with a 66-65 win to clinch a record Bronze.

Nigeria won 6 encounters while Mali got 5 in their meetings. On 22nd December 2005 Mali won 52-48 at the championship; at the FIBA Prelim rd of 26th December 2005 Ngr outscored Mli 69-44; at the FIBA prelim rd of 9th October 2009 Ngr lost 37-41; at the same level of 2nd October 2011 Ngr lost 62-71; In the two meetings of 2013, Ngr lost 45-78 on 23rd September and again lost 50-57 on 29th September.

Nigeria narrowly beat Mli on 26th August 2017 at the FIBA semis 48-47; on 16th August 2019 at FIBA semi Nigeria out dunked Mli 79-68; same 17th November 2019 at the Olympic qualifier it was Ngr 74-59; this competition is a repeat of the FIBA 2021 finals when Ngr dropped Mli 70-59 and last time they met at the world cup group stage in Belgrade, Serbia Ngr was victorious with 73-69 points.

Nigeria who are current defending FIBA Champions are ranked 11 in the world were at the Olympic thrice; at the world cup twice where she made the quarterfinal in 2018. She was at the All African Games 8 times winning Gold in 2003 in Abuja which I ran live commentary as a radio Commentator with Radio Nigeria then; she won Silver twice in 2007 and 2015 and Bronze thrice in 1978, 1999 and 2011.

Nigeria’s Afro Basketball trips were classic with six titles in 15 appearances never losing in a final match they appeared. She beat Mozambique when Moz hosted in 2003 (69-63); beat Senegal at Nigeria 2005 (64-57); slayed Senegal 65-48 at Mali 2017; beat hosts Senegal 60-55 in 2019; outclassed Mali at Cameroon 2021 and at the last competition in Rwanda 2023 won 84-74 over Senegal.

Mali ranked 24 in the world made only one appearance at the Olympics where she placed 12th in 2008; was at the world cup twice where she placed 15th in 2010 and 11th in 2022. 

Her Afro Basketball journey is not as impressive as that of Nigeria as she won the title once in 2007 beating Senegal 63-56; she won Silver twice when she lost to Senegal 57-72 at Madagascar 2009 and lost to Nigeria 59-70 at Cameroon 2021.  She won Bronze five times at UAR 68 when she beat Algeria; at Mali 2011 she beat Nigeria 71-62; at Mali 2017 she beat Mozambique 75-72; at Senegal 2019 she beat Mozambique 66-54 and she beat hosts Rwanda in 2023 with 89-51 points.

Mali placed 4th thrice at the Afro scene at Togo 1970 where she lost to Senegal 27-50; lost to Angola at Senegal 81 by 71-83 and lost to Cameroon 70-83 at Senegal 84. 

Already, the four semifinalists from the Ivory Coast play out Nigeria; Senegal; Mali and South Sudan have qualified for the world cup finals in Germany.

They will join 24 other teams in the world to determine world’s best. From the Americas will be Brazil; USA; Canada; Puerto Rico and Columbia. From Asian and Oceanic sector are Japan; China; Korea; Philippines; New Zealand and Australia while representing Europe will be hosts Germany; Czech Republic; Hungary; Belgium; France; Italy; Spain and Turkey. 

The world female Basketball finals will be in Berlin Germany from 4th to 13th September 2026.