Senegal trio Cierra Dillard, Yacine Diop, and Fatou Diagne insist the Lionesses have all it takes to upset Nigeria’s D’Tigress in their opening game of the FIBA Women’s Olympic Qualifying Tournament set to take place at the Antwerpen Sportpaleis later today.

Nigeria beat Senegal 84-74 in the final of the 2023 Women’s Afrobasket competition to claim their fourth successive crown in Rwanda, a game that saw both nations qualify for the WOQT in Belgium. 

Although Senegal will face Olympic champions the United States and European champions Belgium in the group, their game against African champions Nigeria will be decisive and they feel that although it would be difficult, it is a game they can win. 

“The Qualifying Tournaments are a different ball game and the history we have with Nigeria is a motivation to go harder and claim that win. We have two more teams and we will look to pick wins against the two as anything is possible in such a competition,” Yacine Diop said, looking forward to the game. 

Her compatriot and Africa Women’s Basketball League Most Valuable Player Cierra Dillard has not only tipped Senegal to beat Nigeria but has further gone on to state that the Lionesses will go on to qualify for the Olympics. 

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“This is one of the toughest groups as we face the African, European, and World Champions but if one wants to be the best one must defeat the best,” the 27-year-old said.

“We have to focus on playing together as a team. We got caught with a bit of dividing chemistry in the AfroBasket final but we have to know how to push each other for better this time,” Dillard added.

A win for either Nigeria or Senegal is a huge step for either side to qualify for the Olympics in France in the summer.