D’Tigress, Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, suffered a 62-70 loss to Serbia in their second straight warm-up match in Belgrade.
The 10th-ranked nation in the FIBA World ranking defeated the reigning African champions ahead of the 2024 Olympic Games.
D’Tigress was not outmatched until the very end of the game during the dress rehearsal.
The Serbian squad led by coach Marina Maljković had an even start, but by the second half of the first quarter, they were starting to have an impact and had a double-digit lead of 28:18 in the fifteenth minute.
They stopped letting their competitors threaten their edge after that.
The majority of the deficit was in double digits, and Nigeria would close with just 68:62 remaining with 45 seconds remaining.
Serbia made a greater field goal percentage of 42 percent as opposed to 34 percent for Nigeria.
While both sides had the same amount of assists (20) and turnovers, Nigeria held an advantage in rebounds (38–30) and steals (15–12).
The defeat to Serbia comes after a loss to Germany in their previous friendly.
Come July 24, in Lille, France, the Nigerian team will play their last exhibition match before the Olympic basketball competition gets underway against Japan.
Nigeria’s group B opponents, Canada, Australia, and the host France will be challenging opponents.
