Star girl Idubamo Beggi pulled all the stops on the continent to power Nigeria to the final of the 2024 FIBA Under 18 women’s Afrobasket on Friday day in South Africa.
The irrepressible ball handler scored a game high 23 points to lead the Junior DTigress to a 71-67 victory over their Ugandan opponents in the last semifinal of the championship.
The Nigerian ladies led in all the first three quarters of the match while the Ugandans’ late rally lead, 13-10, in the final period was not enough.
Aside Beggi’s inspirational play, rebounding monster Abigail Isaac cleaned the boards on, game high, 14 occasions to aid the Nigerian team to the win.
The hard fought victory into the final of the South African competition, comes with a FIBA Under 19 women’s World Cup ticket in Switzerland.
Nigeria will now play fellow World Cup ticket holders Mali in Saturday’s final to decide eventual champions of the 2024 Under 18 Afrobasket.