Portlaoise Panthers quartet and Grogan scoop silver at inaugural FIBA Masters Open

PORTLAOISE Panthers Basketball Club had no shortage of interest in the tremendous team silver win for the Ireland Over 45 Women’s squad at this month’s inaugural FIBA Masters Open in Greece.

Indeed, the club accounted for no less than four players in the 12-strong panel, namely Catherine Ashe, Anne Marie Troy and Deirdre and Grainne Tomlinson, all of whom played their part in propelling Ireland to the final where they were ultimately edged 65-54 by Italia Golden Players.

What’s more, the tournament also saw Portlaoise resident and Midlands Masters Basketball manager, Pam Grogan also scoop silver with the Ireland F50 team following another great campaign that included four victories en route to the final where they were eventually undone by Hungarian Angels 44-31.

In the F45 division, Ireland opened their campaign with a 58-43 victory over Mexico Masters, Ashe emerging their top scorer on 15 points, with Agnieszka Lukasiewicz also hitting double figures with 11, as Sergio Fernandez’s side pulled away over the course of the second and third quarter.

That set them up nicely for a meeting with Australia Masters Brolgas in which they led by just three points at the half-time break.

But spurred on by another big display by Ashe, who landed three attempts from beyond the arc on her way to a game-high 11 points, Ireland emerged 55-32 winners.

A difficult opening quarter, however, proved costly in their third and final group game against Italia Golden Players, against whom they found themselves facing a 14-point deficit heading into the second period.

But, while the three points they recouped ahead of half-time were followed by the loss of five in the third, Ireland very nearly pulled off a huge comeback as they outgunned their opponents by 11 over the closing ten minutes, eventually going down 61-56.

Denise Lyons and Mary Cunniffe spearheaded their offence on that occasion with a combined 21, but even that contribution was not enough to see them prevail against an Italian outfit that finished with four players in double digits, including Sabrina Pacilio, Laura Gambardella and Ilisaine Karen David all on 12 apiece.

Finishing second in their pool, Ireland again faced off against Mexico in, what proved, an enthralling semi-final in which Ana Cabral’s side opened up a four-point advantage by the end of the first quarter, only to see Ireland fight back into a one-point lead, as Ashe hit 10 in the opening half alone.

The Portlaoise woman proved even more effective in a second half, that saw the two sides still separated by the narrowest of margins heading into the final quarter, during which Ireland opened up a little more breathing room for a 56-49 victory.

Ashe drained no less than five trebles as she emerged top scorer on 22 points, with Lyons weighing in with a further 15 that helped counter the combined 28 that Cabral and Isabel Corella supplied for Mexico.

Back facing Italia Golden Players in the title decider, Ireland managed to stay in touch with their opponents in the opening half, with just seven points (34-27) separating the sides at the break.

But, while Ashe, Cunniffe and Georgina Martin totalled 32 points between them, Ireland could not stop Maresca Francesco’s team from edging further ahead in the second half for a 65-54 triumph.

“It's always disappointing to lose the final, but the Italian team that we played were just superb,” Ashe told the Laois Nationalist.

“If we were told going out that there would be a silver medal for us, we would have been absolutely thrilled with ourselves,” she said.

While Ashe was pleased with her own performance and the big scores she carded throughout the tournament, she was quick to credit the work of all her team mates around her, stressing “I'm a shooter, but I wouldn't be able to shoot the ball if the girls weren't doing the hard work, getting the passes, screening for you and getting the ball to you when you're open.

“It's nice to, to see a few of them drop, and, especially in masters, if you can still shoot outside, it's definitely an advantage, but you wouldn't be getting any shots if you weren't getting the passes off the girls,” she said.

Another of the Portlaoise contingent, Deirdre Tomlinson was delighted to see her Ireland team figure among the medals at this inaugural event, remarking “We gave it our all over in Greece. We had some tough matches and had to raise our game to get the measure of our opponents, especially the Italians who were smart, aggressive players, but you couldn’t fault our effort throughout the tournament.

“It was a great honour to pick up the silver. Obviously we were aiming for gold, but to be amongst the medals is still a great achievement,” she added.

Meanwhile the Ireland F50 team enjoyed a great run to their respective final, with a clean sweep of three wins in Group A followed by victory over Italia Golden Players in the penultimate rounds.

They opened their campaign with a convincing 51-29 victory over Team Italy, before facing off against Gobi Sky of Mongolia, in a game that saw Midlands Masters Basketball’s Pam Grogan serve up nine points, and Jennifer Winders top scoring on 17, as they ran out 63-39 winners.

And, while they faced a more severe test in their third outing against Australia Masters, a big defensive display helped propel them to a 41-30 victory that saw them move directly through to the semi-finals where they took on Italia Golden Players.

In that match, big runs over the second and third quarters proved very effective in helping see them emerge 55-48 winners for a place in the decider where they faced off against Hungarian Angels.

That title clash saw Ireland struggle to get to grips with their opponents’ strong defence as they were confined to single digits in every quarter on their way to a 44-31 defeat.

Grogan, while disappointed at missing out on gold, was delighted to see her side finish among the medals, insisting “You have to walk away with your head held high, because, at the end of the day, winning a silver medal is an amazing achievement.”