Nigeria head coach Rena Wakama says D\u2019Tigress have no intention of giving up their dominance on the African basketball stage after guiding the team to a record-extending seventh FIBA Women\u2019s AfroBasket title, PUNCH Sports Extra reports.\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cHopefully for a very long time. It\u2019s hard to put a number on it, but we want to keep going,\u201d Wakama said when asked how long she believed Nigeria could remain at the top.\n<\/p>\n
D\u2019Tigress defeated Mali 78\u201364 in Sunday\u2019s final in Abidjan to defend their crown and stretch their unbeaten AfroBasket run to 29 games.\n<\/p>\n
It was their fifth consecutive continental title, sealing their place at the 2026 FIBA Women\u2019s World Cup.<\/p>\n
Wakama praised her team\u2019s mental strength throughout the tournament, particularly given the limited preparation time.\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWe had only six practices before our first game. Other teams had months. This was a mental tournament,\u201d she said.\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWe chose not to complain. We stayed mentally strong, and I\u2019m proud of the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
The former Nigeria international also highlighted the role of belief and legacy in her pre-match address to the players ahead of the final. <\/p>\n
\u201cI told them, \u2018Go out and win this game, not only for yourself but for our country. We are playing for something bigger than ourselves. We are leaving a legacy.\u2019\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Wakama became the first female coach to win back-to-back AfroBasket titles and credited her assistant, Wani Muganguzi, for helping her manage the pressure from the sidelines.\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cWani is like my brother. He\u2019s a brilliant coach in France, and we align on values \u2013 God, family, and women\u2019s empowerment.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cIt\u2019s easy to work with someone who shares your vision. Behind every successful team is a strong coaching staff.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
Tactically, D\u2019Tigress made crucial in-game adjustments to contain Mali\u2019s fast-paced play, with Wakama explaining her decision to rely on experienced centre Murjanatu Musa.\n<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cMali are fast, disciplined and tough. We told the girls we had to stop their transition points and protect the paint.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u201cMusa is a warrior. I knew she struggled early, but I believed she would deliver and she did,\u201d she said.\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nigeria head coach Rena Wakama says D\u2019Tigress have no intention of giving up their dominance on the African…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":44792,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-44791","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44791","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44791"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44791\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44792"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44791"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44791"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44791"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}