Nigeria Basketball Federation (NBBF) on Wednesday issued a statement in celebration of the birthday of female national team, D’Tigress’ captain, Adaora Elonu, which the sport’s governing body described as a special day for the player and the entire game of giants’ community, megasportsarena.com reports.
NBBF joined in celebrating with the former Perfumerias Avenida Salamanca of Spain and Atlanta Dream of USA forward, who was named D’Tigress’ captain for the 2018 FIBA Basketball Women’s World Cup in The Land of The Armada, where she played before returning to USA.
Adaora Nnenna Elonu (born April 28, 1990 in Houston, Texas, USA), who currently plays for Uni Girona CB of Spain, played college basketball for Texas A&M, with whom she won the 2011 National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Championship.
She first left USA in 2012, to join Hapoel Galil Elyon of Israel for a season, after which she signed with Beroil–Ciudad de Burgos of Spain, but the team soon disbanded, and she then moved to CB Conquero, with which she won the 2016 Copa de la Reina and was voted as the contest’s MVP.
She also made top marks in helping D’Tigress win bronze at the 2015 AfroBasket Women, as she was named in the championship’s All-Star Five; after which she was part of the Nigerian side that won Afrobasket 2017 Championship gold in Bamako, Mali.
She averaged the team’s high 3.9 assists per game. She was also a member of the tournament’s top ten players, after which she was named D’Tigress’ captain during their camping in Atlanta, USA in preparation for the 2018 FIBA Women’s World Cup.
During the World Cup, she averaged 7.4 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game; all of which have left the NBBF seeing the former star of Hapoel Galil Elyon (2013–2014), Beroil–Ciudad de Burgos (2014–2016), CB Conquero (2016–2018) and CB Avenida star worthy of lofty words on the day she is celebrating her 30th birthday.
The NBBF media stated: “Today is special to us because it is the birthday of our Captain, Adaora Elonu. Popularly described by her. @DtigressNG team mates as The Silent Assassin, but you won’t understand until you check the stat sheet. A true warrior whose love for the Green & White flag is unparalleled.”
