11th February, 2013
One player making the headlines in the Canadian woman’s basketball is Omowumi Abigail Agunbiade.
The Nigerian-born power forward currently plays for the Duquesne in the Atlantic 10 Conference and has been a force for the team this season. A feat that has taken them to second place in their conference standings behind Dayton and Saint Joseph’s.
Agunbiade is averaging 14.1 points and 7.5 rebounds. She has swatted 36 shots. All of those numbers are team highs despite facing double teams on most of her touches.
“I’m kind of getting more used to facing double teams as the season has progressed,” Agunbiade told FIBA.com. “I would just read the defense. If the help came from the high side, I’d go low, try to adjust throughout the game.”
In the Atlantic 10, she is the fourth leading scorer at 17 points per game.
Agunbiade has improved every year she’s played at Duquesne.
In her first season with the Dukes, she garnered the honor of Atlantic 10 Conference Rookie of the Year in 2011.
She then played for Canada at the at the 2011 FIBA U19 World Championship for Women in Chile.
At that event, Agunbiade’s play was characterized by her combativeness all over the floor. She made loud statements in back-to-back wins over Japan and the United States.
Agunbiade poured in 21 points and corralled 15 rebounds against the Japanese and then had 15 points and nine boards against the USA. Canada fell to Spain in the Quarter-Finals and ended up finishing fifth.
The 21 year old power forward, that was named Player of the Week for the third week of Jnauary, was also part of the Canadian squad at the FIBA Olympic qualify tournament for women, where they claimed one of the five spots available for the London Games.
As a sophomore at Duquesne, the 1.88m power forward stepped her game up several notches and earned a spot on the All-Conference Second-Team. If she continues to excel, Agunbiade could feature for Canada at the FIBA Americas Championship holding in Mexico, or next year at the FIBA World Championship for Women in Turkey.
The future certainly looks bright for Agunbiade when considering her age and the fact that she is ready to learn.