DAKAR (Senegal) - The Lionesses, Senegal's women’s basketball team, have lost three finals in the last four Women's AfroBasket tournaments, all to Nigeria.
Under coach Otis Hughley Jr., the 11-time champions are looking to claim their 12th title in their 24th appearance in the premier African competition.
The American tactician has chosen a combination of young and experienced players, and his team is ready to end their decade-long title drought, which began in 2015.
Although the Lionesses missed out on the title in 2017, 2019, and 2023, falling to Nigeria in the 2021 semifinals and finishing fourth, their current coach boasts two championships with the defending champions, won in 2019 and 2021. This has given Senegalese fans high hopes of turning the tables on their nemesis in the continental competition.
Under the leadership of the former Alabama A&M University men’s basketball head coach, the Senegalese women's basketball team has already turned heads by reaching the final of the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Rwanda. However, they lost to Hungary and missed out on the only ticket to the 2026 Qualifiers, which are scheduled for March.
The squad is led by Cierra Dillard, a two-time Women's Basketball League Africa winner who was the only Senegalese player to make the All-Tournament team in 2023, when she made her debut for the West Africans.
Dillard, who was born in the United States, is expected to provide leadership alongside Yacine Diop, a 2021 Women’s Afrobasket All-Star. Diop has played in three tournaments and won silver twice. She was also part of the 2018 Women’s World Cup squad.
Adding depth to the squad are forward Fatou Diagne, who has been a mainstay on the team since 2019, and center Madjiguene Sene, who was instrumental in helping Al Ahly Sporting settle for silver in the 2024 WBLA.
Reigning Women's Basketball League Africa (WBLA) Most Valuable Player (MVP) Ndioma Kane will be one to watch as she makes her Women’s AfroBasket debut.
Kane has already made her debut for the senior team in two competitions last year: the Women's Basketball World Cup 2026 Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Rwanda, where she was named to the All-Tournament Team, and the Women's Olympic Qualifying Tournament in Belgium.
In Rwanda, she led the Lionesses in statistics, finishing as the top scorer with an average of 16.6 points per game and an average of 6.8 rebounds per game. She was her team's most efficient player with a 21.4 rating, and Dillard led the assist charts with an average of 5.6.
Also making her debut is Aminata Ly, the WBLA's top rebounder, who averaged 14 rebounds and 10.2 points in the African club competition hosted in Dakar in December 2024.
Nene Awa Ndiaye, another revelation during the 2026 World Cup Pre-Qualifying Tournament in Rwanda, will also make her debut in the African competition. The 21-year-old power forward averaged 5.2 points and 3.6 rebounds against world-class teams.
The current Senegalese players are looking to return their team to the success it enjoyed in the 20th century when it won nine titles between 1974 and 2000.
Since then, this dominance has been challenged, primarily by Nigeria, which won six championships during that period, holding the second-highest title tally on the continent. Angola and Mali have won two and one title, respectively.
FIBA