Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, the D’Tigress, suffered a second consecutive warm-up game defeat, losing to Serbia in Belgrade on Sunday.
This loss comes as part of their preparations for the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, which will be held from July 26th to August 11th in France. The African champions fell 70-62 to the 10th-ranked team in the FIBA World ranking. On Friday, they lost their first match 77-63 defeat to Germany at the UBER Arena in Berlin.
The team coached by Rena Wakama was trailing by six points at the end of the first quarter, which ended 21-15. Serbia extended their lead to 10 points by halftime, winning the second quarter 18-14.
In the third quarter, the D’Tigress leveled the score at 18-18 and then edged the final quarter 15-13. Despite this late rally, it wasn’t enough to overcome Serbia’s lead, resulting in an eight-point defeat.
The Nigerian team will play their final warm-up game against Japan on July 24th in Lille, France, before the Olympic basketball event begins.
Nigeria faces a challenging Group B in the Olympics, competing against Canada, Australia, and host, France. Nigeria, who have won the FIBA Afrobasket four times in a row, will be aiming for their first-ever win in the Women’s Olympic Basketball Tournament. During their debut at Tokyo 2020, they lost all their group games against France, USA, and Japan.
