Mali march into Quarter-Finals with confidence

BAMAKO (FIBA Women AfroBasket 2017) – Hosts Mali have become the sixth team to attain a place in the Quarter-Finals of the ongoing FIBA Women AfroBasket 2017 after making light work of winless Central African Republic 97-38 on Tuesday.

Touty Gandega amassed 12 points and seven rebounds to inspire her side to a resounding victory that has not only sent them to the Final Phase but built confidence in the Malian camp as well as the home crowd. 

Ramata Diakite scored a game high 15 points while Fatoumata Bagayoko and Aissatou Maiga added 12 points apiece for Mali. 

Meanwhile, Angola survived a scare to defeat a rather determined Cote d'Ivoire side 70-62 in today's most entertaining game. 

To say that it was a thriller is to put it lightly but the Ivorians asked questions that the Angolans were yet to face at the tournament and indeed it took the individual brilliance of point guard Italee Lucas who scored 29 points to inspire the victory. 

She told FIBA.basketball after the game: "We know that every team will give us a hard time to get to first place in the group but we were not expecting it to be easy. We are really just happy that we won the game because we show real character. We need games like this to show that we do not give up."

Senegal maintained their unbeaten run at the tournament with a convincing 93-61 win over Egypt while Nigeria made light work of Guinea 106-33 to set up the stage for their last Group B tie against Senegal to determine who finishes top.

Wednesday is the last day of the group stages and will offer two more slots for the Quarter-Finals.

So far Angola, Egypt, Mali, Mozambique, Nigeria and Senegal have already secured their tickets for last eight. 

FIBA