For her outstanding role in guiding Nigeria to their first title in 12 years, Evelyn Akhator was named on the All-Star Five of the tournament along with Senegal’s Astou Traore.
Traore was awarded the MVP Award offered by Tissot as she was the tournament’s leading scorer with 21.6 points per game to go with 5.6 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.3 assists.
Angola’s star point guard, Italee Lucas, who lit up at the Palais des Sports Salamatou Maiga all tournament, was included on the line-up much to the appreciation from the crowd mostly for her ball handling skills.
Mali’s Naignouma Coulibaly, who was the best rebounder with 77 off the board and Leia Dongue of Mozambique complete the list of the All-Star Five. Traore received the MVP Award following her stellar performance at the FIBA Women’s AfroBasket 2017 in Bamako, Mali.
The 36-year old small forward recorded an average of 21.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, 2.3 steals and 1.3 assists per game at the biennial continental competition that attracted 12 nations.
Traore was the tournament’s highest scorer with a total of 173 points and was Senegal’s highest points scorer in seven of their eight games at the tournament.
Akhator played a stellar role as Nigeria won all their games to win their third title.The 22-year old, was Nigeria’s leading points scorer, along with guards Ezinne Kalu and Sarah Ogoke, captain Aisha Mohammed as well as Ndidi Madu braved all odds to beat defending champions, Senegal in the final. They had earlier beaten the Senegalese in the group stage of the competition.
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