Panthers unable to finish off resilient Cavan in Women’s Super League clash
Basketball Ireland Women’s Super League
McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles 70
Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers 57 MIDLANDS Park Portlaoise Panthers coughed up the 15-point lead they held deep into the third quarter, as they suffered a second straight defeat in this season’s Domino’s Women’s Super League when they travelled to Virginia Show Centre to take on McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles on Saturday afternoon.
A superb opening quarter saw Portlaoise open up a 12-point gap, and while Cavan managed to reduce their arrears to five by the half-time break, the visitors kicked on again in the third to lead 49-34.
But in the space of less than four minutes, the home side had wiped out that deficit to overtake by the narrowest of margins heading into the final quarter, during which they outgunned Panthers by 12 to bag their very first win of this season’s campaign.
Certainly Portlaoise head coach, Peter O’Sullivan was none too happy with the lack of resolve shown by his team on this occasion, telling the “It was an extremely disappointing result considering the position we were in midway through the third quarter. We’ll need to regroup quickly and work through coming up with a more complete performance and cutting out the number of turnovers we’re currently conceding.
“We showed glimpses of what we can do, but we need to be able to turn around opposition runs a lot quicker than we’re doing,” he stressed.
Just as they had been against St. Paul’s at home the previous week, Portlaoise were again curtailed significantly on the three-point line, particularly in the second half when they made just 25 percent of their attempts from downtown.
It meant they again had to look to their inside threats to deliver on the scoreboard, but both Jessica Fressle and the newly-acquired Christiana Ojide Boiko were confined to a total of 21 points on the day.
Cavan, who had even less of a return from beyond the arc, with only six of their 28 attempts dropping through the string, nevertheless, punished severely from the free-throw line and saw four of their players finish on double figures, including Katie O’Sullivan and Soleil Barnes, who combined for 39 points, while Mazatkan Harris carded a double double of 11 points and 12 rebounds.
Both teams remained neck and neck throughout the opening four minutes, with scores from Alyssa Velles, Boiko, Fressle and Lynn Tunnah for Panthers being cancelled out by buckets from Cavan’s Niamh and Ciara Tolan, Barnes and Harris.
But, with both sides deadlocked at eight points apiece, Portlaoise managed to put together an 11-point run that featured a sublime three from Megan Dunne and scores down the lane from Fressle and Tunnah.
A free-throw from Katie O’Sullivan got Eagles’ side of the scoreboard ticking again, but they were still left facing a 24-12 deficit by the close of the first quarter, Jasmine Burke draining a big three for the visitors with just seven seconds remaining in that period.
Sarah Fleming served up another score from downtown for Panthers on the other side of that short break to widen the gap to 15, but Cavan managed to stay in touch, helped no end by an nine-point run that included free throws from Ciara Tolan and a three-point bucket from Harris.
Another Fleming three appeared to steady the ship for Portlaoise, but six unanswered points, four of which came from Barnes, hauled the hosts back to within five of their rivals (37-32) by the half.
Portlaoise looked to have established a decisive grip on proceedings in the third when they, themselves, put up seven straight points that included two off the free-throw line and three from beyond the arc by Fressle to propel her side 15 points ahead.
But Cavan suddenly caught fire, with an O’Sullivan deuce signalling the start of a superb run of 16 points without response, Mulligan and Harris both throwing daggers from the three-point arc before a Niamh Tolan score with 17 seconds remaining in the third edged them a point in front (52-51) heading into the fourth.
And there was no looking back from there for the homeside, as they accounted for the opening five points of the final period, compliments of O’Sullivan and Niamh Tolan.
Lynn Tunnah and Boiko responded with buckets for Portlaoise, but Cavan strung together runs of five and eight points to ensure they made it over the line and opened up their account in the top flight.
McEVOY’S CAVAN EAGLES: Katie O’Sullivan, Mazatkan Harris, Soleil Barnes, Niamh Tolan, Ciara Brady, Ciara Tolan, Alexandra Mulligan.
Top Scorers: Katie O’Sullivan (21), Soleil Barnes (18), Niamh Tolan (13), Mazatkan Harris (11).
MIDLANDS PARK PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Holli Dunne, Shauna Dooley, Ciara Byrne, Megan Dunne, Lynn Tunnah, Jasmine Burke, Christiana Ojide Boiko, Jessica Fressle, Sarah Fleming, Alyssa Velles.
Top Scorers: Jessica Fressle (13), Lynn Tunnah (11), Christiana Ojide Boiko (8), Jasmine Burke (7).
