By Maxwell Kumoye

A key and influential member of Nigeria’s female basketball national D’Tigress, Ezinne Kalu says teamwork are the key for their victory over World number 3 Australia on Monday at the Pierre Mauroy Stadium, Villeneuve d’Ascq, France in their opening game at this year’s Summer Games.

D’Tigress against all odds stun the Opals as the Australian female basketball national team are called 75-62 to sit in the second spot of Group B behind host France that also shock highly rated Canadians 75-54.

“Our defence were relentless,” Kalu, the Landerneau Bretagne Basket star said.

 

32-year-old Ezinne Kalu starred for Nigeria in that game, scoring 19 points and grabbing five rebounds in the win, while Promise Amukamara added 14, Amy Okonkwo contributed 13 and ⁠Murjanatu Musa made 12 points.

“When we were on court, we smelt blood for the ball. Nobody defends like us, and that’s what kept us going,” she added.

Turnovers and missed free throws were the story of the night for Australia, with the presumed medal contenders losing the ball 26 times and shooting just 8-of-18 from the charity stripe.

 

The 2019 Afrobasket Most Valuable Player stated that, “Second half Australia came out very strong… But we just kept our foot on the gas and kept going.”

The victory over Australian Opals by 13 points was Nigeria first Olympic win since 2004.

With the Opals dropping what many assumed was a guaranteed win against Nigeria, they will now need to go back to the drawing board before taking on wounded Canada on Thursday, with the team suddenly finding themselves fighting for their Olympic lives.