Portlaoise U/18 women top pool to secure home quarter-final in National Cup Basketball
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PORTLAOISE Panthers got their Under-18 Women’s National Cup campaign off to a tremendous start at the weekend as they topped Pool One to ensure a home quarter-final later in the season.
Playing host to this phase of the competition in St Mary’s Hall, Portlaoise bounced back from an early loss to Templeogue to cruise past Mhaigh Cuilinn and Drogheda Wolves on Saturday, securing second place in their group.
That propelled them through to the Pool One semi-finals the following day. and there they surmounted Pool 1B winners Glanmire before exacting revenge for their earlier loss to Templeogue by beating the Dubliners 61-45 in the final.
Securing a home fixture in the last eight of this competition was a superb feat for such a young Portlaoise team, who were without some key players at the weekend.
“Every player who went on the court this weekend had massive contributions,” Portlaoise head coach, Sarah Fleming told the .
“We were actually missing a lot of players this weekend. We had big losses with Cara Powders being out with a shoulder injury, Grainne Coleman has had a long-term injury with her ankle and Emma Scully picked up an injury this weekend playing another sport. All three girls were big losses for us this weekend.
“On our panel we actually have three Under 16 players playing up in Bett Donoghue, Kate Dowling and Ceola Hayes, and all three girls had a massive role this weekend, both in scoring and in defensive work.
“In fact, our team is all underage again next year, except for three players who are going up, but the majority of the team will be underage again next year, so it’s massive to come out of National Cup and still be able to play again next year,” she said.
It was not the ideal start for Portlaoise, who despite winning both the first and third quarters, were edged out 56-47 by Templeogue in their opening Pool 1A fixture on Saturday morning.
Indeed, a six-point advantage at the end of the opening period was turned into a 12-point deficit by the half-time break, as Templeogue stormed back to lead 30-18.
And, while they managed to reduce their arrears to five early in the fourth, Portlaoise saw their Dublin rivals push on again and secure the win with Lucy Mander and Laura Byrne each putting up 19 points to counter the combined 26 that Bett Donoghue and Kate Dowling bagged for Panthers.
Despite that early reversal, Portlaoise got their campaign back on track with an emphatic 77-20 demolition of Mhaigh Cuilinn in their following game.
Holding their Galway rivals to single digits in every quarter, Portlaoise raced quickly out of sight as Dowling put up a game-high 20 points, while Katie Rose Harrison and Ceola Hayes weighed in with an additional 22.
And they ensured further passage to the group semis by way of another convincing 88-46 triumph over Drogheda Wolves in a game that saw no less than four of their players hit double figures, including Donoghue and Harrison on a combined 38.
Mia Delaney emerged with 15 points to her name with Dowling draining five of her six free throws on her way to a total of 13.
With two wins from three in Pool 1A, Portlaoise faced off against Pool 1B winners Glanmire in the group semi-finals on Sunday morning and emerged from a thrilling battle 56-44 winners.
The two sides were deadlocked at 43 points apiece almost midway through the closing quarter before a late rally by the hosts reaped nine unanswered points, including triples from Donoghue and Harrison to propel them into the final.
There they, once again, faced off against Templeogue who had edged them in their opening game of the weekend, and it was to prove another hard-fought contest right up until the final quarter.
Indeed, the game was all square at 31-31 heading into the second half, with Portlaoise eking out a four-point lead by the end of the third quarter before holding their opponents to a mere four points over the final eight minutes as they stormed to a 61-45 victory, Dowling putting up a game-high 19 points with Harrison and Donoghue following up on a combined 22.
PORTLAOISE PANTHERS: Kate Scully, Mia Delaney, Kate Dowling, Katie Rose Harrison, Kara Powders, Tara Delaney, Ceola Hayes, Bett Donoghue, Jessica Horgan, Orlaith McEvoy, Emma Sully, Sarah Donoghue.
