…Victory is Monumental –  NSC

By Amaechi Agbo

Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress extended their remarkable reign on the continent by defeating Mali 78–64 in the final of the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket Championship, claiming their fifth consecutive title and seventh overall.

The victory, recorded on Sunday night at the Palais des Sports de Treichville in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, also marked their 29th straight win in the competition—an unbeaten streak that dates back to 2017. No team has ever achieved five consecutive titles in AfroBasket Women’s history like D’Tigress.

Though Nigeria trailed 21–26 at the end of the first quarter, they showed calm and class in equal measure.

Mali came out strong, determined to avenge past losses, with Sika Koné and Amina Dembele setting the pace early on.

But Nigeria settled quickly, with Murjanatu Musa breaking the early drought and Victoria Macaulay providing key minutes off the bench to stabilize the game.

By halftime, the teams were tied at 41–41, with Amy Okonkwo and Ezinne Kalu leading Nigeria’s charge.

Okonkwo finished with 19 points, while Kalu scored 20, including several clutch baskets that kept D’Tigress in control. Promise Amukamara and Macaulay added support, while Musa chipped in nine points and four rebounds in a game that once again highlighted Nigeria’s impressive bench depth.

The third quarter turned the tide decisively in Nigeria’s favour as they outscored Mali 20–15, with a critical three-point play from Okonkwo helping reassert control. Kalu’s steady hand guided the offense, and by the start of the fourth, Nigeria had a 61–56 lead. The team closed out the game with a dominant 17–8 run, overwhelming Mali with their energy and execution in the final stretch.

With this win, Nigeria have now lifted the AfroBasket Women’s title in 2003, 2005, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023, and 2025.

Head Coach Rena Wakama, who made history in 2023 as the first woman to lead the team to the title, has now added another championship to her growing legacy.

…NSC Describes Victory as Monumental

The National Sports Commission, NSC, has described as monumental the performance of the Nigeria Women Basketball team, the D”Tigress, for winning the Afrobasket for the fifth time in a row to set a new record that might not be broken for a very long time.

The Nigerian girls showed passion, grit, confidence, composure and the calmness of true champion as they overpowered the rest of the continent for the umpteen time at the Palais de Sports de Treichville in Abidjan , Cote d’Ivoire.

The Rene Wakama’s girls defeated Mali 78 -64 points in Sunday’s final to win Nigeria’s 7th Women Afrobasket title and further stretched the team’s unbeaten run in the competition to 29 since 2015.

The Leadership of the NSC led by the chairman Mallam Shehu Dikko and Director General, Hon. Bukola Olopade who tenure have continued to reshape and refocus the winning formular of Nigerian sports, commend the girls for the consistent heart of the country.

The NSC Chairman who was live in Abidjan alongside other top Federal Government delegation to support the girls said ” the Passion President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has for Nigerian Sports is already paying off with consistent international success of most of our national teams”.

“This is what Nigerians have yearned for, to have a President who is very committed to Sports development and seeing this back to back international feat coming in football and now basketball is no mean fest”, Dikko said.

The Director General of the NSC Honourable Bukola Olopade said this victory has  once again shown the unrivalled vast potentials of the Nigerian youthful population in every aspect of  sports.

” We are the best sporting country on the continent and the vision of Mr President is to consistently maximise this with scientific strategies and policies at the sports commission which is what myself and the chairman are  focused on”.

” This is not an easy record that our girls have set  and we are determined to keep it up in all our sports”.

The Nigerian girls are expected to leave Abidjan on Monday in a chartered flight en route the Aso Rock Villa  where they will be welcomed by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR.