FIBA Basketball World Cup: D’Tigress Suffers Second Defeat To Hungary
By Saheed Afolabi
The Nigeria basketball women’s national team endured their second defeat to Hungary in the ongoing 2026 FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup.
Hungary inflicted a 71-67 defeat to the D’Tigress who left it late to engineer a fightback in the game which wasn’t enough to escape them from a second consecutive loss at the FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup.
Dorka Juhasz (19 Points) and Virag Takacs-Kiss (17 Points) powered the Magyars to their first win in the FIBA Basketball World Cup in 28 years against Nigeria.
Hungary had the upper hand in the first quarter as they defeated Nigeria 21-13 while the D’Tigress struggled with the tempo of the game.
Nigeria fell short by two points in the second quarter as the Magyars skipped past the Nigerians 15-13. Hungary went into the break with a ten point gap at 36-26.
The third quarter saw D’Tigress fight back while finishing the tie in a draw with Hungary at 16-16.
Nigeria went blazing high in the fourth quarter, outplayed their opponents but a 25-19 win in the last quarter against Hungary wasn’t enough as the Magyars defeated the D’Tigress 71-67.
The Rena Wakama tutored side now have to defeat France with a high margin points to have a chance of qualifying for the next round and hope South Korea defeats Hungary too.
D’Tigress best finish at the FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup was the 2018 edition where they reached the quarter final stage before losing to the USA in Tenerife, Spain.
The Africa champions have been far from their best despite their 2024 Olympics quarter final finish where they became the first Africa side to achieve the milestone.
