Nigeria’s D’Tigress are now in semifinals of the 2025 Women’s AfroBasket tournament after a dominant 83–47 victory over Cameroon, extending their unbeaten run in African competitions to 27 games since 2015.
Gatekeepers News reports that the win keeps their quest for a fifth consecutive AfroBasket title on course, a record only matched in part by Senegal, who also previously achieved four straight championships.
Cameroon briefly took an early 4–0 lead through Jessica Thomas and Maria Ewodo, but Nigeria quickly responded, with reigning MVP Amy Okonkwo scoring their first point via a free throw.
A jump shot from Elizabeth Balogun gave Nigeria the lead at 5–4, and they surged ahead with an 8–0 run in the final 2:40 of the first quarter, finishing 21–9.
Cameroon managed to match Nigeria’s scoring in the second quarter with 20 points apiece, but still trailed 41–29 at halftime.
Any hopes of a comeback were dashed in the third quarter, as Nigeria unleashed a devastating 25–2 run that left the 2021 bronze medalists reeling. Though Cameroon edged the final quarter 16–14, it wasn’t enough to make a dent in the deficit.
Despite Amy Okonkwo’s 18 points in under 19 minutes, the win was a balanced team effort. All but one Nigerian player with at least 10 minutes on the court contributed points, and four finished in double digits.
While Nigeria continues to dominate women’s basketball on the continent, Cameroon will now compete for fifth place, hoping to improve on their sixth-place finish in 2023.
Reflecting on the win, Nigeria forward Murjanatu Musa said, “We played as a team, enjoying the game by doing what we do best, and this is the result. We feel great about making it to the semifinals again. We’ll try our best to make it to the finals. We know them and they know us. We just have to do our thing and see what happens in the end.”
Guard Ezinne Kalu added, “We just needed to stick together and play Nigerian basketball. This is the definition of Nigerian basketball: fighting, throwing the first punch, setting the tone, and bringing the energy to win over our supporters and fans. We are super excited to move to the semifinals! It’s going to be a great game. Senegal is a great team, and I’m looking forward to playing them.”
