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BY JOE APU
Nigeria’s D’ Tigress literally came from the dead after suffering a 71-60 points defeat against Belarus in her first game on Monday to record her first win of the 2016 Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Nantes, France beating Korea 70-69 points in what has been described as a thriller.
The Nigerian girls determined to make a return to the Olympics after the Athens 2004 Olympic Games reminded everyone that they aren’t ready to go home without a fight and that mindset paid off as they rallied to beat Korea 70-69 in the closest game so far at the 2016 FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament (WOQT).
Nigeria after trailing 13-20 in the first quarter rallied back in the second quarter 15-13, 19-18 and 23-18 in third and fourth quarter but had Ezinne Kalu to thank. She hit a three-pointer with 4.6 seconds left to play to rescue Nigeria from a potential elimination amassing 11 points from the bench. Kalu not only turned out to be a game-changer but also her team’s new hero.
Kalu converted a three-point play with 2:51 remaining but that was just the beginning of a stretch that saw four lead-changes until the final buzzer sounded.
Korea paid the price for getting little production from their bench players who contributed only 11 points against Nigeria’s 37.
Korea made a tournament-high 14 three-pointers but lost the game and that remains a mystery for head coach We Sungwo. Coach Scott Nnaji and his technical crew despite trailing 69-67 with 12 seconds to go called a time out which resulted in Nigeria’s victory.
