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.
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.
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.
