AFCON 2025
Nigeria’s D’Tigress ended their 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup campaign on a disappointing note, suffering a heavy 111-56 defeat to France in their final Group B fixture at the Berlin Arena on Monday as they exited the tournament without a win.
France set the tone early, racing to a 31-13 first-quarter lead before extending it to 65-26 by half-time, the highest first-half total France have ever posted at a Women’s World Cup.
The rout continued after the break as France added 30 more points in the third quarter, sealing the result before Nigeria’s late 17-point fourth-quarter rally could make any difference to the outcome.
France’s performance featured a World Cup-record 22 three-pointers in a single game, with Williams becoming the first French player to sink six threes in a Women’s World Cup match.
Efosa-Aguebo top-scored for Nigeria with 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting in just over 20 minutes off the bench, offering one of the few bright spots in an otherwise one-sided contest.
The defeat completed a winless group stage for D’Tigress, who also lost 81-99 to South Korea and 67-71 to Hungary, with qualification already ruled out before the France game kicked off.
Captain Amy Okonkwo, who averaged 19.5 points and 6.5 rebounds across the tournament’s opening two games, admitted the five-time African champions struggled to match France’s quality and intensity throughout.
Nigeria entered the tournament ranked eighth in the world but fall short of matching their best-ever World Cup finish, the quarter-finals reached back in 2018 in Tenerife, Spain.
The disappointing outing marks the first time the D’Tigress will not reach the quarter-finals of the FIBA Women’s World since 2006.
