Basketball
South Sudan – The first debutant to win a Women’s AfroBasket medal
South Sudan’s Bright Starlets are the 2025 Women’s AfroBasket bronze medallist.
The debutants who made the competition on a wild card, stunned 11-time champions Senegal 66-65 in the Third-Place Game on Sunday, August 3 to clinch their first ever medal in the continental showpiece.
Their win over Senegal, who were looking to end a decade-long wait for gold, makes it the third time the West Africans have missed out on the podium in 26 editions. They missed in the inaugural edition in 1966 and in 2021 in Cameroon, finishing fourth on both occasions.
Senegal had a start to forget, scoring a single point in the opening seven minutes, finishing the period trailing 26-10. An 18-9 show in the second stanza got their comeback efforts going.
South Sudan still had a 10-point lead with 4 minutes and 41 seconds to play in the third, but Victorine Thiaw contributed seven in a 10-0 run for the Senegalese, to level the score at 44 and it was game on.
Khadija Faye handed Senegal their first short-lived lead at 46-45, but they trailed 50-48 heading to the final quarter.
Lena Timera gave the 11-time champions their biggest lead yet with a step back jump shot from deep for 58-54 but the debutants refused to budge.
A dramatic final minute saw Thiaw and Faye miss four crucial points from the charity stripe with the score tied at 65. Cierra Dillard’s foul with 6 seconds left gave Nyamer Lual Diew the chance to win it for South Sudan, converting one for the massive victory.
HERO
Maria Teresa Gakdeng, on debut for the Bright Starlets, has continued to prove a formidable addition for the East Africans, and she demonstrated that yet again with a huge performance.
She came two blocks shy of a triple-double after shooting for 14, the team’s second highest, while grabbing 13 rebounds and added three assists to finish with an efficiency rating of 26.
Skipper Adut Bulgak scored 14 as well, while leading the side on defense with 11 of her 13 rebounds. Delicia Washington was the side’s top scorer with 22, coming two assists off a double-double and adding 5 rebounds.
The trio will, however, have Diew to thank for the victory in regulation time, as a miss would probably have send the match to overtime.
STATS DON’T LIE
Despite allowing Senegal to score 30 from their 29 turnovers, and missing 14 of their 32 chances from the charity stripe, South Sudan kept themselves in the game with a better show on field goals where they converted 45.8% of their chances against Senegal’s 38.3%.
They out rebounded Senegal 44-26, 29-17 on defense to deny the 2023 silver medalist any second chance scoring opportunities.
BOTTOM LINE
South Sudan have left an indelible mark on debut, reaching the podium in a historic run that saw them come from two losses in the Group Phase to beat Egypt, Uganda and Senegal for the very first time and become the first debutant to be on the podium.
The West Africans, meanwhile, will have some reflections as they are yet to reclaim their dominance of yesteryears. This is the second time since their last title in 2015 that they are missing out on the podium.
WHAT THEY SAID: “Wins happen, losses happen, you can’t win them all. What really matters in sports is how you regroup the next day. You have to have a short memory in this field.
Speaking to our resilience as a team and the mental toughness that took to overcome what happened yesterday [semifinal loss against Mali] and throughout this tournament… This is our first run in AfroBasket and our team deserves to be here.
“The girls have shown it this time around, especially of how young they are. I am looking forward to what the future has for us.” South Sudan power forward Adut Bulgak.
FIBA
Final Standing of the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket
1. Nigeria 2. Mali 3. South Sudan 4. Senegal 5. Cameroon 6. Mozambique 7. Cote d’Ivoire 8. Uganda 9. Egypt 10. Angola 11. Rwanda 12. Guinea
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Basketball
VIDEO: Nigeria’s Okonkwo wins back-to-back MVP award, headlines 2025 Women’s AfroBasket All-Star Team
Nigerian forward Amy Okonkwo was named Most Valuable Player (MVP) at the conclusion of the 2025 FIBA Women’s AfroBasket, after helping Nigeria secure a historic fifth consecutive title.
Okonkwo, who spent the entire 40 minutes of the title game to finish with 19 points, headlined the All-Tournament Team alongside Cierra Dillard (Senegal), Delicia Washington (South Sudan), Jane Asinde (Uganda) and Sika Kone (Mali).
Here’s a look at how the 2025 Women’s AfroBasket All-Star came about.
Thanks to an incredible run in five games, Okonkwo won the highly sought-after award back-to-back, emerging as the D’Tigresses’ best scorer.
She saved the best for last, scoring 19 points in the final against Mali and finishing with double digits in all but one match (against Mozambique, where she scored eight).
Over the course of the five games, Okonkwo averaged 14 points, 6 rebounds, and an efficiency rating of 15.6.
Cierra Dillard (SENEGAL)
Without her, Senegal would have struggled to reach the Final Four.
Despite an injury that threatened to sideline her from the 2025 event, Dillard led the team with an average efficiency rating of 16.8, 13.7 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.2 assists per game.
Delicia Washington (SOUTH SUDAN)
Since her South Sudan debut, the 28-year-old has been quite the revelation for the East Africans.
In Abidjan, where she led the Bright Starlets of South Sudan to a historic bronze medal win in her debut, she averaged 18.2 points and went on to win the Best Scorer award, achieving double digits in all six matches.
She opened her campaign with a double-double against Mali, scoring 18 points and grabbing 12 rebounds. She was also two assists shy of a double-double in the third-place win against the 11-time champions, Senegal.
Jane Asinde (UGANDA)
Although Uganda settled for eighth place, their captain, Asinde, stood out with 15.8 points, 8.8 rebounds, and 5.2 assists per game.
She led her team with an efficiency rating of 17.6, the highest among the Zone Five champions.
Sika Kone (MALI)
The WNBA star was Mali’s knight in shining armour in their quest to end an 18-year title drought, averaging 10.4 points and 11 rebounds.
She bounced back from a slow start against South Sudan in the group phase, when she scored only three points in 24 minutes, to register three double-doubles.
She went 15/16 on points and rebounds against Cameroon, 12/12 against Mozambique in the quarterfinals, and 16/13 in the final against Nigeria.
Other awards
Best Rebounder – Maria Teresa Gakdeng (South Sudan)
Best 3-Point Shooter– Jessica Thomas (Cameroon)
Best Scorer – Delicia Washington (South Sudan).
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Up Nigeria! Nigeria is the only nation to win more consecutive Women’s AfroBasket titles than any other nation.
Also, for the second time within a week, Nigeria has become the African champions in women’s football and in women’s basketball!
Nigeria overcame a resilient Mali on the last day of the 2025 Women’s AfroBasket to become the first team to win the tournament five times in a row.
The 78-64 victory was one of Nigeria’s toughest of the tournament.
With this win, Nigeria extended their winning streak to 29-0, dating back to the third-place game of the 2015 tournament in Yaoundé, Cameroon.
As was the case for most of their initial games in the tournament, Nigeria got off to a slow start.
However, feeling threatened by Mali’s intensity, Rena Wakama’s team regrouped in the second quarter and headed to the locker room tied at 41–41.
But contrary to what the final scoreline may suggest, it was not an easy win for Nigeria. Mali took the first quarter with a 26-21 win.
However, in the second quarter, they came back, taking a 20-15 win. They had the same scores in the third quarter before asserting their supremacy in the final quarter with a 17-8 win.
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With an average of 12.8 points per game, Amy Okonkwo has emerged as Nigeria’s leading scorer. The reigning MVP can shoot from almost every corner of the floor.
Djeneba N’Diaye is Mali’s top scorer, averaging 12.5 points per game.
Sika Koné is a force of nature who has been pivotal for Mali. She contributes on both ends of the floor, but she causes the most damage to opponents near the basket with her 10.5 rebounds.
Kone has also registered two double-doubles in four games.
Kone has the highest efficiency rating of any player heading to the finals, averaging 14.8, one more than Marjunatu Musa.
Okonkwo has been vital for Nigeria, but her teammate, Ezinne Kalu, has done it all.
From disrupting opponents’ crucial plays with her steals to scoring when it matters most, Kalu has proven to be a game-changer for Nigeria.
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Akwa Ibom sports ministry begins state-wide sports assets inventory
South Sudan – The first debutant to win a Women’s AfroBasket medal
VIDEO: Nigeria’s Okonkwo wins back-to-back MVP award, headlines 2025 Women’s AfroBasket All-Star Team
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