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"Players ran to midcourt and jumped into each other's arms. The hugging and screaming lasted several minutes. No Olympic medal at stake, just a winless streak. For the first time, a team representing Africa won a game in women's basketball when Nigeria beat South Korea 68-64 on Tuesday and broke an 0-18 mark.
"This was a major, major win. We came here with one goal and that was to win one game," said former NBA player Sam Vincent, whose team grabbed 11th place in the 12-team tournament. "We won one game. Maybe next time we'll win three games. You have to start somewhere."
Africa began participating in women's basketball in 1996. Zaire went 0-7 in Atlanta. Senegal was 0-6 in 2000.
Nigeria lost its five preliminary-round games in Athens by an average of 17.4 points. The closest was a six-point loss to Japan, the worst a 35-point blowout to Russia.
"The ladies hung in there, dug down, showed a lot of courage and a lot of heart," Vincent said."
Read more at Nigeria Snaps African Women's Hoops Skid
