BAMAKO (FIBA Women’s AfroBasket 2017) – Defending champions Senegal tipped off their title defense in style with a 105-39 convincing victory over Guinea in the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket 2017 opener on Friday in Mali.

Astou Traore sunk a game high 26 points with Mame Marie Sy adding 21 to inspire Moustapha Gaye’s side to an important victory that reminded everyone why Senegal maintain their place at the helm of African women’s basketball.

''We are very happy with this victory because it is our first game of the tournament so it will give us good motivation going forward, " Aya Traore, the team captain told fiba.basketball after the game.

Hosts Mali overcame a stubborn Tunisian outfit 86-48 in front of a fully packed Palais des Sports in their capital Bamako much to the appreciation and contentment of a home crowd that was not going to take anything less than a convincing victory. 

Malian forward Naignouma Coulibaly sunk 17 points while Kankou Coulibaly registered 11 rebounds. Houda Hamrouni was Tunisia's highest scorer with 12 points but this was not enough to secure victory for the North Africans. 

Egypt recovered from a slow start against a rather visibly stronger Democratic Republic of Congo side to win 99-72.

Soraia Deghady sunk an incredible 33 points, the highest count on the opening day while Mai Helwa picked a significant 13 rebounds as the Egyptians ticked their first item on their to-do-list. 

Cote d'Ivoire sought to follow in the footsteps of Senegal to score a century as they defeated Central African Republic 104-57.

Abetty Imbangueret Kossi led CAF's charge with a game high 22 points but this did not help her side to a memorable start on their return to the continental biennial tournament for the first time after 43 years.

Meanwhile, Angola sealed an impressive 78-56 win over Cameroon. On her debut at the FIBA Women's AfroBasket, Italee Lucas dropped an incredible game high - 28 points and picked six rebounds. 

In the last game of the day, Nigeria overpowered a resilient Mozambique outfit 80-69 for their first victory in Group B. 

Adaora Elon, Ezinne Kalu, Evelyn Akhator and Sarah Ogoke registered double figures to guide Nigeria to an important win as they scored 17, 16, 13 and 11 points in that order.  

FIBA