Nigeria’s Junior Tigress made historical past on Saturday, July 12, 2025, by claiming their first-ever win on the FIBA U19 Girls’s Basketball World Cup in Switzerland.
The Nigerian ladies celebrated wildly on the remaining buzzer after an exciting 93-88 victory over China in Brno, saying their arrival on the world stage in model.
Nora Ezike was the star of the match, placing on a powerful show in her debut for the nationwide group. She scored 25 factors, grabbed 6 rebounds, offered 4 assists, and made 2 steals to assist her group to victory.
“I’m so excited. It’s an honour to characterize my nation, and it feels nice to get this primary win,” Ezike stated after the sport.
“The important thing was sticking to our recreation plan and by no means giving up. We defended nicely, supported one another, and stayed calm in the direction of the tip. We didn’t rush and stored our composure.”
The victory introduced again reminiscences of Nigeria’s senior ladies’s group, D’Tigress, who made headlines on the Paris 2024 Olympics by turning into the primary African facet to win two video games and attain the quarter-finals.
Ezike admitted that the senior group impressed her.
“I went to Paris 2024 with my household and watched Nigeria’s video games. It was actually nice to see how far they went,” she stated.
Now, the problem for the Junior Tigress is to construct on this historic win and preserve progressing within the match.
Nigeria’s subsequent recreation in Group B is in opposition to Canada on Sunday, 13 July 2025, with tip-off scheduled for 12:30 GMT.
