Paris 2024: D’Tigress ready to challenge US, says coach Wakama

The Senior National Women’s Basketball Team, D’Tigress Head Coach Rena Wakama has expressed confidence when her girls take on the United States in the quarterfinals of the women’s basketball at the ongoing Paris Olympics. Wakama who spoke virtually from Paris, France said the team is excited to play against the nine-time gold medallists, U.S. today […]

The Senior National Women’s Basketball Team, D’Tigress Head Coach Rena Wakama has expressed confidence when her girls take on the United States in the quarterfinals of the women’s basketball at the ongoing Paris Olympics.

Wakama who spoke virtually from Paris, France said the team is excited to play against the nine-time gold medallists, U.S. today in a quarterfinal clash.

“We are really excited because we want to play the best of the best. We believe that everything happened for a reason. We met them already in Belgium but we did not play our best, so we are looking forward to meeting them again on Wednesday (today).

“I think the first game that we played with them was an eye-opener. We were able to watch the game and break down what we did wrong, what we did well and I think now that our girls have the experience of playing against them, it would help a lot.

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“We’ve also played about five games now; we have three friendlies and three matches here so we are going into the game confidently. Playing well and we have a great addition to the team (Ezinne), that brings another level of intensity and experience to us.

“So I think the USA has not played against this team before because the team they played against in Belgium is different from this team. So we are looking forward to doing what we do and do it well,” she said.

D’Tigress have already made history in Paris, becoming the first African team, men’s or women’s, to reach the quarterfinals in Olympic basketball. Ending the United States’ 58-match winning streak and seven consecutive gold medals would rank among the greatest upsets in sports history.

The U.S. and Nigeria have met only once at the Olympics in women’s basketball, a group-stage game in Tokyo four years ago. Team USA won that by nine, 81-72, although it’s worth noting that the Americans took a 20-point lead into the fourth quarter.

The two sides have also met twice previously at the FIBA World Cup, with the U.S. winning a group-stage game in 2006 and a quarterfinal in 2018.