All smiles as Nigeria eliminate Egypt for semifinal spot

This was a contest with so much history. Nigeria has been on the podium only once in the history of this tournament, and it came after a loss to Egypt in the finals in 2010 in Cairo by one point.

These two teams also met on the opening day of the tournament and Egypt won 72-60. The story would be written differently this time as it was Nigeria who started off really well and aggressively in the first quarter.

The Junior D’Tigress started the game with their intended rhythm and immediately took the lead. They went on to win the first quarter 24-13 but it was their ability to get rebound after rebound that kept them going. Coach Juliana Negedu continued to rotate her bench to keep the tempo. Egypt was kept in the contest behind the valiant performance of Khadiga Abouelghait who had 5 points and managed to get a few Nigerian forwards into foul trouble.

The second quarter got off to a much slower start as both teams struggled to get any baskets. It was an even contest as Nigeria scored 13 points compared to Egypt’s 10. Nigeria squandered a lot of opportunities as they were able to get out in transition but struggled to convert any chances.

Nigeria also continued to show how dominant they are defensively as they had a lot of interceptions and steals to disrupt any run that Egypt would have. The score at the half was 37-23 to Nigeria.

The third quarter is where Nigeria would go on to shoot more openly and convert some three-point shots but what kept the game Egypt in the game was Nigeria’s incessant fouling as they had several trips to the free-throw line. The side had 31 total attempts at the line but only converted 17 as opposed to Nigeria converting 10 out of 16. Abigail Isaac of the Junior D’Tigress asserted her dominance in the paint as she made sure she was a thorn to the flesh of the Egyptian defense by making some clean shots. The quarter was well balanced again as Nigeria would lead 54-36 at the end of the quarter.

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Abigail Isaac had the following to say after the game:

I am very excited to be playing in the semifinals. We are going to win and take the gold back to Nigeria. There was nothing tough about this game, just that my scoring was not coming but I'll prove more of that in the semis and finals

The fourth quarter started with Nigeria reaching their biggest lead of the game at 21 points. Matters got worse for Egypt as their star player Jude Alaaeldin was forced to leave the court with a cut under her right eye. She returned to the court later to end the game with 11 points. Haya Alhalawany (10points) and Khadiga Abouelghait (13 points and 7 rebounds) also joined Alhalawany as the only Egyptian players in double figures for scoring. Nigeria maintained the momentum in the lead and power through to a 66-51 win behind the performance of Abigail Isaac (15 points and 12 rebounds), Idubamo Beggi (13 points and 2/2 from 3) and Momoluwa Tewugbade (13 points and 3/4 from 3).

They advance to the semifinals where they will face Uganda in search of their first ever gold medal.

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[Photography / Imagery Courtesy of FIBA]