Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, have once again stamped their authority on the continent after clinching the 2025 FIBA Women’s Afrobasket championship with a decisive victory over Mali in the final.
Led by head coach Rena Wakama, the team triumphed on Sunday at the Palais des Sports de Treichville in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, to claim their fifth straight title — a historic feat never before achieved in the tournament’s history.
With the win, D’Tigress further cemented their dominance in African women’s basketball, extending an unbeaten run in the competition that has lasted a decade. The team’s last Afrobasket defeat came on October 2, 2015, against Cameroon.
Sunday’s final was a fiercely contested affair. Mali took the upper hand early, ending the first quarter with a 26–21 lead. However, Nigeria rallied to level the game at 41–41 by halftime.
The momentum shifted decisively in the third quarter as D’Tigress surged ahead, closing the period with a 61–56 advantage. In the final quarter, the Nigerian side tightened their defense, holding Mali to just eight points and securing a commanding 14-point victory.
The title win follows a tense semi-final showdown against Senegal, where D’Tigress needed a strong fourth-quarter push to edge past their West African rivals.
Coach Rena Wakama, who made history in 2023 as the first woman to lead a team to Afrobasket glory, now boasts two titles in as many tournaments.
