Nigeria’s women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, may have opened their campaign at the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket tournament with a crushing 92-45 win over Rwanda, but point guard Promise Amukamara insists the team is still far from its best.
Speaking after the huge victory, Amukamara admitted that the team was still shaking off early rust, especially having had no warm-up matches prior to the tournament.
“It was a good first game for us to get all of our jitters out and just to have one game under our belt,” she said.
“We haven’t done any friendly games so this is a good showing for us, but this is not where we want to be. We still have room to improve.”
“Just looking forward to the next games,” she added.
Amukamara dictated the standard the reigning champions have set for themselves, despite their dominant start.
“Time to Play Nigerian Basketball” – D’Tigress Ezinne Kalu
Meanwhile, ahead of their second Group game against Mozambique today, fellow D’Tigress star and experienced guard Ezinne Kalu echoed similar sentiments, stating that the team still has more to offer.
Kalu, who was influential in the Rwanda game, is confident that the Nigerian ladies will turn out an even better performance in their next outing.
”We have to fix our mistakes first game. We got our nerves out and our tiredness out of our system.”
“Now it’s really the time to turn up and play Nigerian basketball. So we will go in, fix our mistakes and be ready for Mozambique,” Ezinne Kalu said.
D’Tigress are seeking a fifth consecutive FIBA Women’s AfroBasket title and remain firm favourites in the tournament, but the players insist they are focused on gradual improvement and cohesion with every game.
Up next, They face Mozambique by 5pm WAT as they continue their title defense in Abidjan.
