Nigeria, Nov. 15 -- Nigeria's senior women's basketball team, D'Tigress, fell narrowly to Turkey on Friday, losing 77-76 in a fiercely contested international friendly in Istanbul as part of their preparations for the 2026 FIBA Women's Basketball World Cup qualifiers.

The match came less than three months after D'Tigress claimed a historic fifth straight AfroBasket title in Abidjan, and it offered the African champions an important test against one of Europe's top basketball nations.

It was also Nigeria's first outing since lifting the continental trophy, marking the beginning of their transition from African dominance to global competition.

Turkey edged the first quarter 15-14, before D'Tigress responded with an energetic second-quart...