D’Tigress Suffer Heavy Defeat to France, End World Cup Campaign Winless

Nigeria’s D’Tigress have suffered a heavy 111–56 defeat to France in their final Group B game of the 2026 FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup in Berlin, ending their campaign without a victory.

The reigning African champions struggled to match France’s intensity, shooting efficiency and offensive firepower as the European side dominated from start to finish.

France established control in the opening quarter, racing to a 31–13 lead before extending their advantage to 65–26 by half-time.

The French continued their dominance after the break, adding 30 points in the third quarter before closing out the game with another 16 in the final period.

D’Tigress scored 13 points in each of the first three quarters and 17 in the fourth, finishing with just 56 points.

The gulf in shooting efficiency was also evident, with Nigeria making only 17 of 56 field-goal attempts, while France converted 65 attempts at a much higher rate. France were particularly effective from beyond the arc, using their long-range shooting to build an unassailable advantage.

The defeat followed Nigeria’s losses to South Korea, 99–81, and Hungary, 71–67, in their opening two Group B matches. Those results had already ended D’Tigress’ hopes of reaching the knockout stage before Monday’s meeting with France.

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Nigeria therefore leave the World Cup without a win, a disappointing outcome for a side that arrived in Berlin with high expectations after reaching the quarter-finals of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.

D’Tigress entered the tournament ranked eighth in the world and as five-time reigning African champions. FIBA had identified a top-seven finish as a potential new landmark for the team, whose best World Cup result remains an eighth-place finish in 2018.

Captain Amy Okonkwo had been one of Nigeria’s standout performers after the opening two games, averaging 19.5 points and 6.5 rebounds. She scored 22 points against South Korea and 17 against Hungary but could not prevent Nigeria from being overwhelmed by France.

Monday’s defeat also extended France’s dominance in recent major-tournament meetings with Nigeria. The Europeans had previously defeated D’Tigress at the 2018 World Cup, Tokyo 2020 Olympics and Paris 2024 Olympics, making it four consecutive victories over Nigeria at those tournaments.

For coach Rena Wakama, the result will raise questions about Nigeria’s inability to reproduce the level of performance that took them to the Olympic quarter-finals two years ago.

Wakama had earlier acknowledged that slow starts against South Korea and Hungary contributed to D’Tigress’ struggles, with their late fightback against Hungary ultimately coming too late.

Despite the disappointing World Cup campaign, D’Tigress remain the dominant force in African women’s basketball and one of the continent’s most successful teams.

However, their difficult campaign in Berlin has highlighted the gap Nigeria must bridge to consistently compete with the world’s elite.

Three games, three defeats and a painful World Cup exit now leave D’Tigress facing the task of rebuilding ahead of their next major challenge.