Nigeria senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress’ suffered their second defeat at the ongoing 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifiers after a 93-86 result.
The D’Tigress had began their campaign with a 70-37 victory over Colombia in their first match, but suffered a 77-60 defeat to South Korea in their second outing.
Nigeria bounced back to winning ways with a 101-84 win over Philippines on Saturday, but lost once again on Sunday night as they remained in fourth-place on the standings, although they will be very impressed by their performance as they went toe-to-toe with the European giants.
They have already qualified for the World Cup after winning the 2025 AfroBaskets tournament and are using this tournament to prepare themselves for the showpiece later this year.
D’Tigress lose to France
Nigeria went into the clash against France, ranked third in the FIBA World rankings, as massive underdogs to secure a victory.
Elizabeth Balogun, Murjanatu Musa, Victoria Macaulay, Promise Amukamara and Ezinne Kalu started the game this time around.
France moved early and took the lead in the first quarter, sealing a 29-21 result. The hosts continued their fine performance and sealed another win in the second quarter, this time winning 28-24 to hold a 57-45 advantage into the interval.
Nigeria were much better in the third quarter and raced into a six-point advantage, before they ended the quarter trailing 72-66.
The fourth quarter was very close as both sides traded points, before it ended 21-20 in favour of France, who nicked a 93-86 victory.
What next?
The D’Tigress will conclude their campaign against 2026 FIBA World Cup hosts Germany on Tuesday, hoping to return to winning ways.
