Wakama Calls for Strong Response As D’Tigress Prepare For Philippines Clash

Wakama Calls for Strong Response As D’Tigress Prepare For Philippines Clash

By Niyi Busari 

Head coach of Nigeria women's national basketball team, Rena Wakama, has urged her players to quickly move past their defeat to South Korea women's national basketball team and shift focus to their upcoming fixture against the Philippines women's national basketball team in the FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup qualifying tournament in Lyon, France.

D’Tigress suffered a 77–60 defeat to the Koreans on Thursday in their second game of the tournament, marking the first time the Nigerian senior women’s team has lost to South Korea.

Nigeria kept the contest competitive during the opening two quarters, trailing narrowly 36–32 at halftime. However, the African champions were unable to maintain momentum in the second half as South Korea pulled away to secure victory.

Victoria Macaulay was Nigeria’s standout performer, following up her Most Valuable Player display in the opening match against Colombia women's national basketball team with another strong outing. She finished the game with 22 points and six rebounds.

Wakama acknowledged that her team struggled with shooting and turnovers but insisted the loss would provide valuable lessons ahead of their next games.

“Korea is a great team. We struggled today shooting the ball and we turned it over 22 times, which is not typical of our game,” Wakama said.

“Mentality-wise we are fine, and we are not going to overreact to the loss. There are lessons in defeats, so we will take those lessons from this game, improve and be ready for the next one.”

She also praised the Koreans for their defensive approach.

“They were very physical, denying our passing lanes and doubling up on our players. They did a great job and credit to them,” she added.

South Korea are among the teams hoping to secure one of the two available World Cup places from the round-robin qualifying tournament. Meanwhile, Nigeria and Germany women's national basketball team have already qualified for the tournament scheduled for September in Berlin, Germany, and are using the event primarily as preparation.

The qualifying tournaments are being held across four host nations — France, Turkey, Puerto Rico and China — as teams compete for the remaining places at the global competition.

Nigeria will next face the Philippines on Saturday before concluding their schedule with matches against hosts France women's national basketball team and Germany.