The women`s basketball team needed to start the FIBA Women`s Olympic Qualifying Tournament on a good note for a chance to represent Africa at the 2020 Summer Olympics, and that is exactly what they did in their opening game against Mozambique.
DTigress started the first quarter on a slow note, turning the ball over five times and trailing by one point at the end. However, Adaora Elonu`s fade away jump shot at the beginning of the second quarter set the tone for the rest of the game.
"I think we did a good job from the second quarter to the last quarter of the game. The first quarter was a little difficult for us just trying to get our rhythm because we had not been together for a while coming from our different teams. So it took us a while and once we did that we picked up our defensive and offensive rhythm, and we played the way we wanted to towards the end" - Adaora Elonu
Promise Amukamara, Ezinne Kalu and Adaora Elonu all finished with double digit points with 14 points, 11 points and 10 points respectively. Elizabeth Balogun who made her debut with the team had 9 points, 2 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals.Impressively, all 12 players on the court scored points.
Despite the win, Coach Otis Hughley said there is more work to be done. The coach emphasized the need to make good shots during the post game conference.
"We just don`t shoot well at times, because if we did, we will be difficult to beat."
The team scored 54.5% of their field goals, 66.7% from within the arc and 15.4% 3 point shots.
Although, we still have two more games to play, this victory puts us in a good position to qualify for the Olympics. Our next game is against Serbia on Saturday 8 February.
Images - FIBA
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