China’s head coach Gong Luming is aiming for a clean sweep against Nigeria’s D’Tigress. This comes after China came back from an eight-point deficit to win 69-65 in their second pre-World Cup exhibition game in Haikou on Sunday.
This victory means China has now won both games against the African champions. They narrowly won the first match 70-67 on Friday.
The three-match series is part of both teams' preparations for next month’s FIBA Women’s World Cup in Berlin. China hopes to complete a 3-0 sweep when they meet for the last time in Foshan on Wednesday.
Nigeria seemed to have control heading into the final quarter. D’Tigress had a strong third quarter, hitting five three-pointers to take a 54-46 lead.
But China fought back when it mattered. Tang Ziting opened the final quarter with the first three-pointer for China before hitting another to equal the score at 54-54.
Centre Zhang Ziyu continued to make an impact inside the paint. Wang Siyu then kept calm at the free-throw line, making four crucial shots in the closing seconds to finish China's comeback.
Tang ended the game with nine points. The standout player was 19-year-old Zhang, who had a double-double with 23 points and 13 rebounds. She had only six points in the first half but improved from her 24-point performance in Friday’s game.
Nigeria leaned on their tough defense to stay competitive in a first half that saw 11 lead changes.
The teams went into halftime tied at 33-33. D’Tigress had their best moment in the third quarter.
China had issues with ball control, committing 19 turnovers, five more than Nigeria. Still, they managed to stay close and turned the game around in the final quarter.
Coach Gong noted the importance of playing against a Nigerian team with Olympic experience. He believes these games will help his young team prepare for the World Cup.
"As seven of their players competed at the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics, it was a good test for our young team," Gong said.
"We need to build chemistry and draw experience from these games. We need to connect well against such a high-pressure defense.
"Compared with the first game, we improved our rebounding today, but our turnovers were still high. We hope to improve that in the next game."
The China series is the second stage in D’Tigress’ five-part “Road to Berlin” preparation program.
Nigeria started their preparations in the United States, where they played exhibition games from 29 July to 2 August. They then traveled to Haikou for the three-game series against China.
The two teams will meet again in Foshan on Wednesday before D’Tigress move their training camp to Tenerife, Spain.
Nigeria will play more preparation matches against Spain and Belgium from 15 to 24 August. They will then go to Zaragoza for more games against Mali and Puerto Rico from 25 August to 3 September.
Finally, the team will head to Berlin for the FIBA Women’s World Cup, which takes place from 4 to 13 September.
D’Tigress have been drawn in Group B with South Korea, Hungary, and France. The African champions hope their tough preparation will put them in the best shape for another big global challenge.
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