ABIDJAN (Cote d'Ivoire) - Over the last decade, we have witnessed five editions of the Women’s AfroBasket, with two nations dominating the charts and a few others looking to close the gap and threaten their dominance.
In this article, we examine some of the statistics, figures, and facts that defined the last five Women’s AfroBasket tournaments.
Most Women's AfroBasket games played by a player
- Odelia Mafanela (Mozambique) - 33 games - Sarah Ogoke (Nigeria) - 31 games - Soraya Mohamed (Egypt) - 31 games
Biggest winning margin
There have been several blowout wins over the last decade, but none like the 2017 Group Phase clash in Bamako, Mali, between Nigeria and Guinea. Nigeria won by 73 points (106-33), registering the largest winning margin in the last five editions of the tournament.
Another large margin was the 69 points (100-31) that Senegal inflicted on Guinea during the Group Phase of the 2021 tournament.
On August 18, 2019, Nigeria demolished Cameroon 106-39 in Dakar, marking the third-largest winning margin in Women’s AfroBasket over the last decade.
Lowest scoring game
In the last 10 years, no teams have scored fewer points than Cameroon and Mali in a Women’s AfroBasket game.
On September 25, 2015, Cameroon, the hosts, desperately needed to maintain their momentum, but taking on the highly competitive Mali team proved challenging. The Lions prevailed, 44–43, in the lowest-scoring game of the last five tournaments.
Two years later, Nigeria, chasing their first continental title since 2005, needed to step up to beat Mali 48–47 in the semifinals. That game turned out to be the second-lowest scoring game in the tournament since 2015.
Biggest upset
In an unexpected turn of events, the young Egyptian team pulled off the biggest upset of the last decade when in 2015 they stunned the defending champions, Angola, with a final score of 53-52 during a group stage game in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
When it all started for Nigeria
Nigeria currently has a 24-game winning streak that began in an unexpected way back in 2015 in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
After losing to Angola 57-51 in the group phase, the two teams met again in the third-place game. Things looked promising for Angola, which led 55-40 at the end of the third quarter.
However, Nigeria held Angola scoreless in the fourth quarter and outscored them 20-0 to secure third place. They have not lost a Women's AfroBasket game since.
Most titles
Nigeria has become the most dominant team of the last decade, winning four of the last five tournaments.
Senegal won the 2015 tournament in Cameroon's capital, Yaoundé, but Nigeria has dominated ever since, winning four titles in a row.
Only Senegal has achieved this feat, winning four continental titles in a row in 1974, 1977, 1979, and 1981.
Regular podium finishers
While Nigeria has won four titles in a row since 2017, Senegal, Mali, and Cameroon have alternately filled the next podium steps.
MVPs (2015-2023)
2015 – Aya Traore (Senegal) 2017 – Astou Traore (Senegal) 2019 – Ezinne Kalu (Nigeria) 2021 – Adaora Elonu (Nigeria) 2023 – Amy Okonkwo (Nigeria)
They never returned
They came, they saw, they battled, and they never came back. Since appearing in the 2015 Women's AfroBasket tournament, Algeria, Gabon, and South Africa have returned to the competition.
Highest climber in the FIBA Africa rankings
Slowly but surely has been Egypt's motto over the last decade.
Egypt has climbed from 14th to 5th in Africa since the beginning of 2015, which speaks to how much work the country has put in.
At one point in 2022, Egypt was ranked fourth in Africa. This is the remarkable story of the team that has climbed the highest in women's African basketball over the last decade.
FIBA