Hive BC Appoints D’Tigress Coach Rena Wakama As Head Coach For New Season

Hive BC Appoints D’Tigress Coach Rena Wakama As Head Coach For New Season

Sampson Adedeji

Hive BC has confirmed Nigeria’s D’Tigress head coach, Rena Wakama, as the team’s head coach for the upcoming Unrivalled Basketball League season, BSNSports.com.ng reports.

Unrivalled, an eight-team women’s basketball league in the United States co-founded by WNBA stars Breanna Stewart and Napheesa Collier in 2023, debuted in January 2025 with six teams.

The league announced its head coaching lineup for the 2026 season on Thursday, with Wakama among the eight coaches unveiled.

Wakama will lead Hive BC, one of the league’s two expansion franchises, as Unrivalled enters its second campaign in January 2026.

“Rena Wakama will lead Hive BC in the team’s Unrivalled debut, following her first season as an assistant coach for the Chicago Sky,” the league stated.

The statement also highlighted Wakama’s historic achievements with Nigeria’s women’s national basketball team.

In 2024, she guided D’Tigress to become the first African basketball team, male or female, to reach the Olympic quarterfinals.

Since her appointment as head coach in June 2023, Wakama made history by becoming the first female coach to win the Women’s AfroBasket later that year and led the team to another continental title in 2025.

The 32-year-old previously held assistant coaching roles at Tulane University and Stony Brook University. She began her coaching career at Manhattan College as Director of Basketball Operations before being promoted to assistant coach.

A former college player herself, Wakama starred at Western Carolina University before transitioning into coaching.