After nine days of tight competition in Kigali, Nigeria emerged as the champions of the 2023 FIBA Women's AfroBasket, cementing their ‘invincibles’ status as the most dominant African team for the past six years. Besides the D’Tigress' successful campaign, a number of historic moments marked the 12-nation tournament. ALSO READ: Nigeria’s Okonkwo named 2023 Women’s Afrobasket MVP Here's a look back at each team's review during the Kigali showpiece. Angola The former African champions' inconsistency proved costly as they started the tournament with a loss to Cote d'Ivoire and signed out after another shock loss to Guinea. Angola's win over hosts Rwanda was massive, but it turned out meaningless as the Southern Africans missed out in the quarter-finals for the first time in years. The 1-2 record, which relegated Angola to the tenth place in the Championship is the country's worst result in the history of the 12-team competition. Angola's poor outing is probably a clear message to starting afresh and re-invent their program. Aside the entire team, the likes of Sara Caetano and Cassia Antonio deserve a chance as they give Angola hope for the future. Cameroon Things looked promising for Cameroon after a 55-53 win over Mozambique on the opening day, but taking on Senegal in the Classification Round to the quarterfinals (80-77 loss) proved challenging for the Lionesses. Cameroon only faced three opponents in five games (Guinea, Mozambique and Senegal). They beat Guinea twice, shared a win-loss with Mozambique and lost to Senegal. Carine Silatsa, Jessica Thomas and Monique Akoa Makani made a tremendous difference for Cameroon. Côte d'ivoire After a successful qualifying campaign in Abidjan where they defeated Guinea in the two-game series, a win over Angola was the Elephants' best accomplishment in Rwanda. Cote d'Ivoire lost to Rwanda and Mozambique and failed to advance to the quarter-finals. DR Congo Kigali 2023 turned out to be an experience to forget for Congolese who ended up as the only team without a win. DR Congo opened their campaign with a 69-35 loss to eventual champions Nigeria in Group D, and, although the former African champions put up a fight against Egypt and Uganda, they finished at the bottom-ranked in the competition. Egypt Answers are needed about Egypt's campaign in Kigali. The North African landed in the Rwandan capital with probably their most talented squad, but, somehow, they returned home with their worst result of the last five editions of the tournament. One win over DR Congo, which was followed by two straight losses to Nigeria and Senegal ended Egypt's dream of finishing on the podium for the first time since 1977. Guinea Guinea conceded big loss-margins throughout the event, and, as a result, they recorded the lowest point-differential (-213). However, the 71-69 win versus Angola was more than enough to send them through to the quarter-finals. Mali Everything looked perfect to Mali who reached the semi-finals undefeated in three games, but beating Senegal for the second time in the tournament turned out to be impossible. Mali's dream of reaching the Women's AfroBasket final for the second time in a row ended after a shock 75-65 loss to Senegal in the semis. Djeneba N'Diaye, Sika Kone, Maimouna Haidara and Mariam Coulibaly deserved better. Mozambique It starts to become a norm for Mozambique to miss out on the semi-finals by a whisker. Mozambique opened their campaign with a 55-53 loss to Cameroon, but when the two sides met up in the fifth-place game battle, Mozambicans prevailed 74-65. Tamara Seda's terrific performance was awarded with a place in the All-Tournament Team. Seda won the top rebounder award. Nigeria D'Tigresses arrived in Kigali with a relatively unknown squad but they returned home with the 2023 Women's AfroBasket title, their fourth straight championship. In the process, Rena Wakama became the first female head coach to win a Women's AfroBasket title. ALSO READ: Unbeaten Nigeria win fourth Women’s Afrobasket in a row Even more impressive was the fact that Nigeria extended their winning streak to 24-0 in Africa, dating back to the third-place win of the 2015 Women's AfroBasket in Yaoundé when they beat Angola 65-55. The last team to beat Nigeria (71-70) was Cameroon on October 2, 2015. Rwanda Local fans flocked into BK Arena to support their heroes, and Rwanda lived up to expectations. ALSO READ:Women's AfroBasket 2023: Rwanda finishes fourth after Mali loss Rwanda's 66-61 win over neighbors Uganda sent them through to the semi-finals for the very first time in the history of the competition. Senegal It wasn't this time that Senegal would lift their first African title since 2015. The Senegalese had a slow start to the Championship after two straight losses to Mali and Uganda but, in a turn of events, the eleven-time African champions responded with a 3-0 to reach the Championship decider. Cierra Dillard was a breath of fresh air for Senegal, leading the team in critical moments, but once in the final, Nigeria proved too much for the West Africans. Uganda It was Uganda's best campaign ever. Beating Senegal 85-83 in the Group Phase was probably Uganda's most famous result in the history of the competition. Jannon Otto was a key factor for Uganda during the regional qualifiers, and she remained influential for the Gazelles in the final round. Otto finished as the tournament's leading scorer and was as a result named in the All-Tournament team. Final standings: 1. Nigeria (5-0) 2. Senegal (3-3) 3. Mali (4-1) 4. Rwanda (2-3) 5. Mozambique (4-2) 6. Cameroon (3-2) 7. Uganda (3-3) 8. Guinea (1-5) 9. Egypt (1-2) 10. Angola (1-2) 11. Côte d'Ivoire (1-2) 12. DR Congo (0-3)
