ANTANANARIVO (21st FIBA Africa Championship for Women) – Defending champion of the FIBA Africa Championship, Mali Wednesday confirm her pre-championship rating as a top contender to the African title with a 66-38 points victory over Tunisia.

The Hamchetou Maiga captained side waste no time as to her readiness to finish top of group-B winning in all four quarters by 20-14, 15-09, 14-07 and 17-08 to confine the Tunisian side to the classification spot.

Djene Diawara led the floor with a double double of 16 rebounds and 15 points to power the Malian side past the Tunisian she was joined by teammate, Djenebou Sissioko with another double double effort of 17 points and 11 rebounds.

With the victory mali tops group-B with nine points from four wins and a lose, the defending champion will square up against group-A fourth place finisher, Madagascar in the third quarter-final on Friday.

Other quarter-finals pairing, group-A third paced team, Cameroon will engage group-B runner-up Cote d’Ivoire at 12.30 hour, Angola and Mozambique will entertain the crowd at 15.00 hour while Nigeria who finished fourth in group-B will do battle against nine-time champion, Senegal at 20.00 hour.

All the quarter-finals games will take place at the Palais Des Sports arena.

Two classification games will also hold on Friday at the Gymnase Couvert with Rwanda taking on South Africa at 14.00 hour while Mauritius will take to the floor against Tunisia at 16.00 hour

FIBA Africa