Nigeria’s U-19 women’s basketball team, known as the Junior Tigress, has failed to advance to the knockout stage of the 2025 FIBA U-19 Women’s World Cup following a decisive loss to Portugal in their final group game.

The encounter, held in Brno, Czech Republic, saw Portugal overpower the Nigerians with an 18-point margin, effectively eliminating the West African side from Group B contention.

Nigeria had opened their campaign with an impressive 93–88 victory over 7th-seeded China. Nora Ezike led the team in what was described as a dream debut. However, that early promise was quickly overshadowed by a heavy 113–42 defeat to world number three, Canada, in their second group fixture.

With only one win in three games, Nigeria needed a victory over Portugal to stand a chance of progressing, but the Lisbon-based team, spearheaded by Clara Silva, proved too clinical.

Despite being Africa’s sole representative at the tournament following the absence of defending continental champions Mali, Nigeria’s campaign ends at the group stage. The team, ranked 16th among the 16 nations at the event, will now await the outcome of results in Groups C and D to determine their placement in the classification round.

Meanwhile, China—missing their star player Zhang Ziyu, who is currently playing in the FIBA Women’s Asia Cup—failed to register a single win in the group, falling to Nigeria, Portugal, and Canada. Zhang, MVP of last year’s FIBA U-18 Women’s Asia Cup, had been the focal point of China’s junior squad, and her absence was visibly felt.

Nigeria’s next fixture will be confirmed once group standings across the competition are finalised.