Idris Adesina
WNBA star, Evelyn Akhator, continued her impressive run in the 2017 FIBA Africa Championship for Women in Mali as Nigeria swept Ivory Coast aside 98-43 in the quarterfinal on Friday to qualify for the semifinal of the competition.
D’Tigress play hosts Mali in the semifinal today. Mali defeated Egypt 90-50 in the third quarterfinal of the competition, while tournament favourites Angola fell to rivals Mozambique 61-47 in the first major upset of the competition.
Akhator, who has been impressive in the tournament, raked in another double-double as she got 21 points and 11 rebounds on the way to the emphatic victory. She had her first double-double against Egypt, when she scored 24 points and 13 rebounds.
Akhator currently tops the tournament’s statistics charts with an average of 23.0 in terms of her efficiency per game – ahead of Senegal’s Astou Traore, who has an efficiency per game rating of 22.8 –and 9.8 rebounds per game.
Nigeria ran riot against the Ivorians from the first quarter winning 23-13 before extending the lead in the second quarter 23-2. The third quarter ended 25-17 in Nigeria’s favour while the game was wrapped up with a 27-11 score in the last quarter.
Solange Bognini was the highest performer for Ivory Coast with 11 points while Kani Kouyate had nine rebounds. Center Minata Fofana, forwards Kani Kouyate and Kariata Diaby were a handful but Nigerian guards Nkechi Akashili, Ezinne Kalu and Ndidi Madu thwarted their efforts.
Akhator – the star of the game – converted five out of the six free throws in the game while Ezinne Kalu extended her performance in the competition with eight more assists – the highest by any player in the game.
In a total domination of the match, Nigeria converted 43.55 per cent of their two-point field goals against Ivory Coast’s 30.43 per cent. D’Tigress had a three-point field goal conversion rate of 47.06 per cent against 14.29 per cent for Ivory Coast. Nigeria had a 52 total rebounds while the Ivorians had 42.
The West Africans could only convert 50 per cent of their free throws while Nigeria converted 74.07 per cent of theirs. Nigerian players made 24 assists against Ivory Coast’s 11 and D’Tigress had 16 steals while the Ivorians had seven.
Nigeria’s bench proved more effective on the day as they accounted for 40 points while the Ivorians could only get 30 points from the bench.
On the way to the semifinal, Mali finished second in Group A behind Angola. They won four matches and lost one. They defeated Tunisia, Ivory Coast, the Central African Republic and Cameroon but lost to Angola in their second match.
Mali and Nigeria have met a couple of times but D’Tigress will be seeking to avenge their 2015 All Africa Games gold medal match defeat to their West African rivals. The Malians defeated Nigeria 73-57 to win gold in Brazzaville.
However, with a 2018 World Cup qualification at stake, the Malians will be banking on home support as they hope for a repeat of Brazzaville 2015.
Coached by Sap Vaclouse, the Malians have won the Afrobasket Women once in 2007 with a second-place finish in 2009 and Sam Vincent’s side, who are seeking their third title, will have to dig deep to defeat the hosts.
Mali will be relying on Naignouma Coulibaly, who had 16 points against Egypt, as well as Kankou Coulibaly, who averaged nine points per game and Tirera Meiya, whose 13 points per game is the highest in the Malian team, to wreak havoc on the Nigerians.
Ahead of the semifinals today, Akhator said the team would work on their weaknesses.
The 22-year old told FIBA.basketball, “Basically we need to know what we have to do going forward because each game matters.
“We have to regroup and then correct our mistakes. The Quarter-Finals is another ball game. It is a knockout game. You win, you continue. You lose, you go home. It is different. This is where it actually matters.”
Meanwhile Kano Pillars coach, Sani Ahmed, said the team are good for the title.
“D’Tigress are on the right track and are doing very well. They are good contenders for the title after starting as outsiders in the competition. The players are very young and can go the extra mile. What they need to do is to work on their weaknesses and convert more of their three points,” he stated.
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