Nigeria’s D’Tigress defeated Mali 78-64 in a thrilling final of the women’s AfroBasket in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire on Sunday.
It is a record fifth straight AfroBasket title for D’Tigress and their seventh overall.
Also, D’Tigress have not suffered defeat at the AfroBasket in 10 years.
Mali started strong, taking a 26-20 lead at the end of the first quarter. But Rena Wakama’s side responded with authority.
The Nigerian team dominated the remaining three quarters to seal a commanding victory over their West African rivals, who were looking for their second continental title after first winning it in 2007.
With the win, D’Tigress booked their spot at the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin, Germany.
Also Read: Kida Dedicates D’Tigress’ Historic AfroBasket Win to President Tinubu
Mali, along with South Sudan and Senegal, will head to the qualification tournaments next March for a chance to join D’Tigress.
Meanwhile, D’Tigress’ star Amy Okonkwo was named the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of the 2025 women’s AfroBasket.
She has now won back-to-back women’s AfroBasket MVP honours after claiming the award in 2023.
Earlier on Sunday, tournament debutants South Sudan claimed a historic bronze medal with a dramatic 66-65 win over eleven-time champions Senegal in the third place match.
It is South Sudans’ first ever continental medal, and the first time a debutant has won a medal at the competition.
Senegal’s decade-long wait for gold will continue for at least another two years, with the defeat marking only the third time the West Africans have missed out on the podium in 26 editions.
By James Agberebi
5 Comments
Congratulations to Nigeria. Just like in football Fiba also choose the wrong player for MVP, no disrespect to AMY but Ezinne Kalu was the MVP of the Tournament. I don’t know how she wasn’t recognised for her efforts all through the tournament.
Caf also made the same error by leaving out Okoronkwo who had more contributions in the tournament than any player to award Ajibade the MVP.
We must recognise real contributors than name. Honourable mention to Promise Amukamara as well. Dillard of Senegal was also special as always but this generation of Naija is full of stars. Coach Rena is Gem love her plenty!
@Chima, totally agreed. No disrespect to the winners, I no longer understand the criteria for selecting these award winners. It seems that being the captain of the winning team is now the main criteria. Also, for the “Top 5” players award, it appears they were more inclined to spreading it across the different participating nations, because there is absolutely no way that Ezinne Kalu was not among the top 5 best players of this tournament. Even if she missed the MVP by some criteria that we don’t know, she was absolutely the best Point Guard in this tournament, and arguably among the best three players in all round display. Even if the committee considered only the statistics in terms of points scored, assists, rebounds, blocks etc, she did very well all round, and was also the greatest motivator of D’Tigress orchestrating key moments that turned games around.
By the way, Big Congratulations to our Super Tigress’s, Amy Okonkwo and all the winners in individual categories.
This is true. Promise Amukamara has a promising future.
I was shocked when Kalu was left out of all the individual awards. However, I can see how Amy won it if you look holistically. The stats favor Amy – points, rebounds, defense etc. However, the engine of the team is Ezinne.
Weldone girls! Oya Tinubu it’s time to roll out some cash gifts, three bedroom flats and M.O.N…lon