What began the season as a campaign many wrote off as a rebuilding year has ended in celebration and vindication. Dolphins Women’s Basketball Club is the 2025 Zenith Bank NBBF Women’s Basketball League champions, stopping powerhouse First Bank 61–55 after five gripping minutes of overtime at the Indoor Sports Hall, National Stadium, Surulere. The victory, sealed after regulation finished 53–53, not only halted First Bank’s run at another crown but delivered the Dolphins their second national title in a decade.
The final was scrappy, tense, and emblematic of the Dolphins’ entire campaign. Quarter by quarter, neither side surrendered control easily. Dolphins edged the opening quarter, matched First Bank in the second, and traded blows through the third and fourth, forcing a deadlock that set the stage for overtime heroics. In the extra period, the visitors tightened their defence and converted the chances that counted, outscoring First Bank 8–2 to close out a memorable 61–55 result.
This title carries weight beyond the scoreboard. Dolphins had not hoisted the national trophy since 2015, making the win a long-awaited return to the summit. The championship felt like the end of a long arc, a club rediscovering identity and belief after years of near misses and transitional seasons. Observers have pointed to improved squad depth, sharper defensive schemes, and a renewed team culture as the pillars that carried the Dolphins through the Final Eight and into history.
Key performers rose to the moment. Awele Okoh, named MVP of the tournament in reports summarising the Final Eight, anchored the Dolphins’ offence and provided timely scoring when the pressure was highest. Supporting stars, who combined scoring, playmaking, and hustle, made clutch plays in the fourth quarter and overtime, collectively denying First Bank the late rally that might have overturned the result. The balanced attack and calm under pressure were trademarks of the Dolphins’ playoff run.
Head coach Peter Akindele and his staff drew praise for tactically preparing the squad for high-stakes encounters. Their game plans emphasized physical defence and disciplined ball control, two elements that proved decisive in a final that teetered on small margins. The unbeaten streak the Dolphins maintained through the Final Eight, completing the tournament without defeat, was singled out by analysts as evidence of the team’s cohesion and mental toughness coming into the title game.
Off the court, the victory resonated emotionally. Dolphins dedicated the title to the memory of Wale Aboderin, the club’s late founder, whose investments in facilities and infrastructure years earlier were credited with helping to shape the team’s pathway. Players and management spoke of the win as a tribute to his legacy, and as a signal that the club’s long-term project, developing talent and sustaining a winning culture, has finally borne its most significant fruit in a decade.
The ripple effects are immediate. As national champions, the Dolphins have secured continental representation and the spotlight that comes with it, an opportunity to test the squad on the larger African stage and to attract sponsorship and talent that can sustain success. For First Bank, a storied institution with a history of dominance in the league, the loss closes another chapter in their pursuit of yet another title, but also underlines the competitiveness returning to Nigeria’s domestic women’s game.
For the Dolphins’ captain and senior players, the trophy carries a promise. Captains and team leaders have pledged that this will not be an isolated moment, insisting that the structures and mindset that produced the 2025 triumph must now become the norm rather than the exception. Club directors have echoed that sentiment, framing this success as the beginning of a sustained era rather than the culmination of a single season.
In a league where dynasties can form quickly and competition is fierce, the Dolphins’ path from doubt to dominance is a case study in patience, planning, and belief. They arrived at Surulere carrying the ghosts of years past, the team that almost was, and left with silverware to blot out the doubt. For the players, coaches, and supporters who endured the lean years, Saturday’s final was more than a match won; it was proof that long-term investment and collective will can restore a program to greatness.
As the celebrations continue for the Dolphins, the focus is already beginning to shift toward what comes next for the newly crowned champions. Beyond the euphoria of finally reclaiming the national title, the pressing question now is whether the team can successfully carry this remarkable domestic momentum into the continental stage, where the level of competition is higher and the spotlight shines brighter.
Much will depend on their ability to retain the core group of players whose chemistry and resilience proved decisive throughout the season. At the same time, the club faces the challenge of nurturing and integrating a new generation of talent to ensure that this success is not short-lived but rather the beginning of a lasting era.
The manner in which Dolphins navigated the Final Eight, remaining unbeaten and ultimately prevailing in an overtime thriller in Lagos, has already sent a clear signal to rivals and supporters alike: this is no longer a team to be defined by near misses or what might have been. Instead, the Dolphins have earned the right to be remembered for what they have truly accomplished, and the expectation is that this victory will serve as a springboard toward even greater achievements in the future.
