Nigeria’s senior women’s basketball team, D’Tigress, will lock horns with American powerhouse Minnesota Lynx in a highly anticipated preseason fixture in April.
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The clash is scheduled for Monday, April 27, at the T-Mobile Centre in Kansas City, with tip-off set for 7:00pm local time.
Organised by ProHoops Sports & Events, the game will be historic, as it represents the first appearance of a WNBA team in Kansas City in over two decades.
Minnesota Lynx head into the encounter as one of the most accomplished teams in league history, having secured four championship titles in 2011, 2013, 2015 and 2017.
They topped the standings during the 2025 regular season before suffering a semi-final defeat to the Phoenix Mercury.
The team features several elite players, including Napheesa Collier, Kayla McBride, Courtney Williams and Natisha Hiedeman, and is guided by experienced coach Cheryl Reeve.
D’Tigress, ranked eighth globally by FIBA, continue to enjoy a golden era on the international stage.
The African champions etched their names into history at the 2024 Olympic Games by becoming the first African basketball team, across both genders, to reach the quarter-finals.
They also reinforced their dominance on the continent with a fifth straight AfroBasket title in Abidjan, extending their unbeaten run in Africa to 29 games.
The Nigerian side last featured in a tightly contested friendly against Turkey in Istanbul, where they fell 77–76.
Despite the narrow defeat, the match provided valuable insights for the technical crew ahead of the 2026 FIBA Women’s World Cup qualifying tournament.
The qualifiers are billed for March 11–17 and will be hosted across Lyon-Villeurbanne, Wuhan, San Juan and Istanbul, with 24 teams vying for 16 tickets to the World Cup finals in Berlin, Germany, scheduled for September 4–13, 2026.
The upcoming meeting with the Lynx will also form part of preparations ahead of the 2026 WNBA season, which will mark the league’s 30th anniversary, with new expansion teams Portland Fire and Toronto Tempo set to join the competition.
