By Michael Charles
After winning their first Olympic game since 2004, upsetting Australia 75-62 in their group play opener on 29 July, Nigeria’s women’s basketball team defeated Canada on Sunday 4 August by a final score of 79-70 to advance to the quarterfinals for the first time ever at Paris 2024.
With the loss, Canada will finish last in group B and therefore will not make it out of the group. Ezinne Kalu led Nigeria in scoring with 21 points while Shay Colley paced the Canadians with 17 points.
The first half was an evenly matched affair as Canada fought to remain in contention to advance, even taking a four point lead into halftime. However, coming out of the break, the Nigerians applied a pressure that the Candians simply could not endure and never recovered from.
Nigeria outscored Canada 23-5 in the third quarter, including a 15-0 run to open up an eight point lead. By the midway point of the fourth quarter, the Nigerian lead had ballooned to an insurmountable 17 points as they sealed the deal.
Nigeria shot 45 per cent from the field and 38 per cent from deep, but their defense was the catalyst for the critical victory. D’Tigress, the team’s nickname, held Canada to just 37 per cent shooting overall, including an abysmal 5-26 from long distance.
The Africans y forced 26 Canadian turnovers which were converted into 27 points on the other end, a massive deciding factor in a game carrying such important implications. Of these 26 turnovers, Nigeria had 16 steals.
Another major discrepancy in the game was free throw shooting. Canada got to the line 22 times but only converted 15 of those attempts while Nigeria went 14-17 from the stripe. Pairing turnovers and missed free throws with a poor shooting performance was a recipe for disaster for the Canadians who finished their run at Paris 2024 winless.
Nigeria’s defense continues to be the group’s identity after putting on another clinic on that end of the floor. In their upset win over Australia, they forced 26 turnovers including 15 steals. Despite losing to France 75-54 on 1 August, D’Tigress forced another 17 turnovers and had nine steals. Overall, through three games of group play, Nigeria has forced 69 turnovers by their opponents including 40 steals.
After handling business on the court, D’Tigress must now wait to see who they draw in their first ever Olympic quarter-final.
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