KIGALI (Rwanda) - At the end of 28 games and nine days of tight competition in Kigali, Nigeria emerged as the winner of the 2023 FIBA Women's AfroBasket, leaving no doubts about the most dominant African team of the last six years.

Besides Nigeria's successful campaign, a number of historic moments marked the 12-nation tournament.

Here's a look back at each team's review (alphabetical order) during the Kigali showpiece.

ANGOLA

The former African champions' inconsistency proved costly as they started the tournament with a loss to Cote d'Ivoire and signed out with a loss to Guinea. 

Jubilant Guinea celebrate a win over Angola

Angola's win over hosts Rwanda was massive, but it turned out meaningless as the Southern Africans missed out in the Quarter-Finals for the first time in decades.

The 1-2 record, which relegated Angola to the tenth place in the Championship is the country's worst result in the history of the 12-team competition.

Angola's poor outing is probably a message to re-start afresh  and re-invent their program, but the likes of Sara Caetano and Cassia Antonio give  Angola hope. 

CAMEROON

Things looked promising for Cameroon after a 55-53 win over Mozambique in the opening day, but taking on Senegal in the Classification Round to the Quarter-Finals (80-77 loss) proved challenging for the Lionesses. 

Cameroon only faced three opponents in five games (Guinea, Mozambique and Senegal). They beat Guinea twice, shared a win-loss with Mozambique and lost to Senegal.

Carine Silatsa, Jessica Thomas and Monique Akoa Makani made a tremendous difference for Cameroon.

COTE D'IVOIRE

After a successful qualifying campaign in Abidjan where they defeated Guinea in the two-game series, a win over Angola was the Elephants' best accomplishment in Rwanda.

Cote d'Ivoire lost to Rwanda and Mozambique and failed to advance to the Quarter-Finals.

DR CONGO

Kigali 2023 turned out an experience to forget for Congolese who ended up as the only team without a win.

DR Congo opened their campaign with a 69-35 loss to eventual champions NIgeria in Group D, and although the former African champions put up a fight against Egypt and Uganda, they finished last in the competition.

EGYPT

Answers are needed about Egypt's campaign in Kigali. The North African landed in the Rwandan capital with probably their most talented squad, but, somehow, they returned home with their worst result of the last five editions of the tournament.

Senegal ended Egypt's dream of reaching the podium

One win over DR Congo, which was followed by two straight losses to Nigeria and Senegal ended Egypt's dream of finishing on the podium for the first time since 1977.

GUINEA

Guinea conceded big loss-margins throughout the event, and, as a result,  the Guineans recorded the lowest point-differential (-213).

However, the 71-69 win versus Angola was more than enough to send through to the Quarter-Finals. 

MALI

Everything looked perfect to Mali who reached the Semi-Finals undefeated in three games, but beating Senegal for the second time in the tournament turned out mission impossible.

Mali's dream of reaching the Women's AfroBasket Final for the second time in a row ended with a 75-65 loss to Senegal in the semis.

Djeneba N'Diaye, Sika Kone, Maimouna Haidara and Mariam Coulibaly deserved better.

MOZAMBIQUE

It starts to become a norm for Mozambique to miss out on the Semi-Finals by a whisker.

Mozambique opened their campaign with a 55-53 loss to Cameroon, but when the two sides met up in the Fifth-Place Game battle, Mozambique prevailed 74-65.

Tamara Seda's terrific performance was awarded with a place in the All-Tournament Team. Seda won the top rebounder award.

NIGERIA

D'Tigresses arrived in Kigali with a relatively unknown squad but they returned home with the 2023 Women's AfroBasket title (the team's fourth straight title).

In the process, Rena Wakama became the first female head coach to win a Women's AfroBasket title.

Nigeria silenced a BK Arena with a win Semi-Finals win over Rwanda

Even more impressive was the fact that Nigeria extended their winning streak to 24-0 in Africa, dating back to the Third-Place win of the 2015 Women's AfroBasket in Yaounde when they beat Angola 65-55. 

The last team to beat Nigeria (71-70) was Cameroon on October 2, 2015. 

RWANDA

Local fans flocked into BK Arenal to support their heroes, and Rwanda lived up to expectations.

Rwanda's 66-61 win over neighbours Uganda sent them through to the Semi-Finals for the very first time in the history of the competition. 

SENEGAL

It wasn't this time that Senegal would lift their first African title since 2015.

The Senegalese had a slow a start to the Championship after two straight losses to Mali and Uganda, but in a turn of events, the eleven-time African champions responded with a 3-0 to reach the Championship Game.

Cierra Dillard was a breath of fresh air for Senegal, leading the team in critical moments, but once in the Final, Nigeria proved too much for Senegal.

UGANDA

It was Uganda's best campaign ever.

Beating Senegal 85-83 in the Group Phase was probably Uganda's most famous result in the history of the competition.

Jannon Otto was a key factor for Uganda during the regional qualifiers, and the she remained as influential for the Gazelles in the Final Round.

Otto finished as the tournament's leading scorer.

FINAL STANDINGS:
1. Nigeria (5-0)
2. Senegal (3-3)
3. Mali (4-1)
4. Rwanda (2-3)
5. Mozambique (4-2)
6. Cameroon (3-2)
7. Uganda (3-3)
8. Guinea (1-5)
9. Egypt (1-2)
10. Angola (1-2)
11. Cote d'Ivoire (1-2)
12. DR Congo (0-3)

FIBA