LAGOS, Nov. 16 (Xinhua) -- Nigeria's female basketball team D'Tigress on Saturday took a bold step to picking a ticket to the Olympics qualifying tournament in 2020 after beating host Mozambique 57-48 to go top of Group A.
The reigning African Champions dominated the first half with 38-19. Mozambique took the second half winning of 29-19, but it was a case of too little too late as Nigeria stood their ground for a win.
The top performer for Nigeria was captain Adaora Elonu who had 12 points, one assist and 9 rebounds. Ezinne Kalu and Evelyn Akhator scored 12 points each as Akhator also emerged the highest rebounder for the team with a total of 12.
Nigeria will face Mali in the semifinals of the FIBA Africa pre-Olympics qualifiers.
In a post-match interview monitored by Xinhua, head coach, Otis Hughley, said the game against Mozambique gave the team the opportunity to play together as a team since their Afrobasket win.
"We are focused on the bigger picture of picking the Olympics ticket which is the ultimate target for us as a team," he added.
Otis promised that the game against Mali in the semifinal will be different as they hope to take the pre-qualifiers one game at a time with the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo the ultimate target.
