Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, will discover their quarter-final opponent today (Wednesday) as Angola face Cameroon in a playoff showdown at the ongoing FIBA Women’s AfroBasket tournament in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.
The reigning champions have enjoyed a perfect start to their title defence, topping Group D with back-to-back wins. They opened their campaign with a dominant 92–45 victory over Rwanda before edging Mozambique 60–55 in a tightly contested second match.
That hard-fought win extended Nigeria’s remarkable unbeaten run at the Women’s AfroBasket to 26 games — a streak that dates back to 2015, when they last suffered defeat in the semi-finals against hosts Cameroon. They eventually clinched bronze at that tournament by defeating Angola.
Cameroon, who finished second in Group B, began AfroBasket 2025 with a 70–63 win over debutants South Sudan, but fell 75–49 to Mali in their next outing. With a points differential of -19 (119 points scored, 138 conceded), the Indomitable Lionesses will need a sharp turnaround if they are to challenge for a semi-final berth.
Angola, two-time AfroBasket winners, have struggled significantly in the group stage, losing both their games — 70–54 to Egypt and 82–74 to Ivory Coast — and finishing with a worse points differential of -24.
The winner of today’s playoff between Angola and Cameroon will face D’Tigress in the quarter-finals on Thursday, July 31.
Nigeria will be firm favourites to reach the semi-finals, a win that would not only move them closer to their seventh AfroBasket crown but also guarantee qualification for the FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup Qualifying Tournament, scheduled for early next year.
