ACCRA (Ghana) – Having missed out of the FIBA U16 Women’s African Championship for six years, Nigeria are making a return to the event courtesy of their wins over host Ghana at the Zone 3 Qualifiers.

History awaits the Nigeria U16 Women’s team as they look forward to making a big return to the big stage following an 8-year absence.

Nigeria last appeared in the tournament in 2015 in Madagascar where they finished second, behind Mali.

The Nigerian girls made no pretences about their set goal as they humbled Ghana in two games 73-24 and 65-17 and punched their ticket to the Final Round coming up in Tunisia.

The event was held at the Eden Heights Facility in Accra.

Nigeria - coached by Sampson Sotuminu - was dominant in the two games and no one in doubt that they deserve to represent Zone Three. Bouyed by the excellent team work put up by the Women, Sotuminu hailed the courage of Ghana in the two games while pointing out that the games were not as easy as the scores were.

Team Captain for Nigeria, Essien Favor Henry agree that the games were not easy but says she and her teammates remained focused on the big picture of getting the qualification ticket done and dusted.

"We are happy for this qualification because this is our first assignment for Nigeria and haven made a success of it will inspire us to go the extra mile in Tunisia. We don’t want to consider the records of other teams but just go out there and be the beasts on the court with results to show for it," Essien told FIBA.basketball in Accra.

Nigeria’s point guard, Shehu Khadijat Garba who was dominant in the first game with a game high of 15 points, 4 rebounds, 6 assists in expressing her joy for her team’s qualification says that she is excited and is looking forward to giving her best with her teammates.

The 1.71m (5ft 7in) gives credit to her teammates noting that they provided her all the opportunities to excel. "My job on the court is to do the dirty part of getting the ball and giving it out to the forwards to score but I found out in the first game that as I give the ball out, it comes back to me and when the opening shows, I shot."

Sad as it is for Ghana missing out on qualification, team Captain Adam Fati believes that their participation is the dawn of a new era for women’s basketball in Ghana.

"I must confess that I feel excited to have represented my country and so are my teammates. Playing in the Qualifiers is great for us and women’s basketball in the country. We may not have won but it is a good experience for us going forward. It is our hope that more will be done to improve Women’s basketball in Ghana.

FIBA