D’Tigress Suffer Consecutive Defeats in FIBA Women’s World Cup Warm-Up Games in Spain
Nigeria’s D’Tigress endured a difficult weekend in Tenerife after suffering consecutive defeats to Spain and Belgium in their preparations for the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup.
The African champions were beaten 83-58 by Spain on Friday before suffering another heavy setback against Belgium, losing 90-55 on Saturday.
D’Tigress showed promise during the opening half against Belgium, trailing 39-33 at the break, but their performance deteriorated significantly after the interval.
Belgium dominated the third quarter, outscoring Nigeria 32-11 to establish a commanding advantage and effectively settle the contest.
The statistics further highlighted Nigeria’s struggles.
D’Tigress converted just 15 of 53 attempts from the field, shooting 28 percent overall and 20 percent from three-point range, while Belgium shot 50 percent from the field and 40 percent from beyond the arc.
Nigeria also committed 22 turnovers compared with Belgium’s 14, as the European side took advantage of their opponents’ offensive difficulties to pull away.
The defeat came less than 24 hours after D’Tigress suffered an 83-58 loss to Spain, making it back-to-back setbacks for Rena Wakama’s side in Tenerife.
The results represent a challenging phase of Nigeria’s World Cup preparations.
The team had to bounce back from their poor starts during the exhibition tour of China, where they lost two of the three matches before securing an 88-77 victory over the hosts.
With the World Cup scheduled to begin in Berlin on September 4, D’Tigress still have further opportunities to fine-tune their game, address their offensive inconsistencies and strengthen their defensive organisation before the tournament.
As reigning African champions, Nigeria will be hoping to turn the lessons from their Tenerife defeats into improvements when they resume their final phase of preparations.
