Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, on Monday, crashed out of the basketball event of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics at the group stage.
The Nigerians, having suffered losses against the United States and France, needed to lift their game and secure a victory over Japan to stand a chance of making the quarterfinals.
Instead, the Nigerians succumbed 102-83 to their Japanese counterparts to make it three losses from three games played in Group B of the women’s competition’s group stage.
The Japanese team won 30-22 in the first quarter, relying mostly on three-pointers.
They kept the momentum and held on to their strategy of making successful points at the three-point line and working hard on the offensive and defensive ball play.
The second quarter was played with a lot of intensity as D’Tigress worked to keep their heads in the game but unfortunately fell 21-16 to Japan.
Japan also took the third quarter, outscoring D’Tigress 33-19, relying more again on the three-points shots.
By the fourth quarter, when D’Tigress seemed to have overcome their lethargy, winning 26-18, the Japanese who were playing their best game so far in the competition were home and dry.
They had successfully recorded 19 three-points shots to coast home to a great win.
The win meant Japan progressed to the quarterfinals, having won two out of their three group games.
The Nigerian team were making a return to the Olympics since the 2004 edition in Athens, Greece.
