Tunnah takes heart from gritty Portlaoise display against in-form Liffey Celtics
Jasmine Burke landed a couple of cracking scores for Portlaoise Panthers on Saturday against Liffey Celtics Photo: Paul Dargan
Despite seeing her side chalk up their seventh straight loss in this season’s Women’s Super League when they paid a visit to FloMAX Liffey Celtics on Saturday night, Midlands Park Portlaoise Panthers guard, Lynn Tunnah remains optimistic they can turn things around.
The former Templeogue player hit a game-high 26 points for the Laois outfit, but even that, and the 20 points carded by Christiana Ojide Boiko, were not enough to see them over the line against a Celtics team, who themselves, appear to have turned a corner, winning four of their last five fixtures.
Panthers’ task on Saturday night was not made any easier by the absence of their American power forward, Jessica Fressle, but Peter O’Sullivan’s players put that setback aside and pushed their opponents all the way.
Indeed, they battled their way back from 13 points down in the third to level the game early in the fourth, but Celtics found another gear and pushed on for the victory, helped, no end, by the combined 45 points that Brooke Kane and Destinee Bursch registered for them on the night.
Tunnah, nevertheless, took a lot of heart from their performance and is hopeful Panthers can build on that over the second half of the season.
“It was exciting,” she told the Laois Nationalist. “Even the energy at half time was good, being down by only five points. Liffey went on a run, we got it back going into the fourth, but they took another run and we just didn't have the legs to keep up with them, but we're actually very proud of our performance.
“It's an improvement on the other games, especially being without Jess as well. She’s a huge loss, but I think we did her proud for sure. She'd be delighted, but I'd say having her would have helped us make it over the line.
“We proved to ourselves what we can do, having the other players step up, including myself. We need to stay consistent now, but I feel like our ball movement, getting it in, getting it out, there was a really good balance of twos and threes there tonight, so we're making improvements on that for sure,” she insisted.
Celtics accounted for the game’s opening two buckets on Saturday following two fast breaks, to which Kane and Katie Williamson applied the finishing touch.
But Portlaoise’s response was convincing, Boiko registering two ‘and ones’ either side of a sublime side-line three from Alyssa Velles that helped propel them 11-4 in front almost midway through the opening quarter.
The home side hauled themselves back on to level terms, starting with a deuce from Bursch that was followed by a delightful triple from Kate O’Flaherty.
It was bucket-for-bucket from there to the close of the first period, Bursch draining a shot from beyond the arc to help give the Leixlip side the edge at 18-17.
Portlaoise twice drew level with their hosts early in the second quarter, but a Williamson bucket, coupled with scores from off the three-point line and down the lane by Sorcha Tiernan propelled Celtics seven points up.
A triple from Tunnah ended a spell of almost four minutes without a score for Panthers and both teams continued to go toe-to-toe for the remainder of the half, Áine O’Connor picking up points from the free-throw line and perimeter for Celtics, while Jasmine Burke and Tunnah hit some super scores for the visitors who trailed 39-34 at the break.
Portlaoise were struggling to see their shots land early in the second half, while Celtics were proving that bit more ruthless in this high-intensity battle, the Kildare side making the stops and punishing on the break as O’Connor and Williamson struck in the key, while both Kane and O’Flaherty put threes through the string to open up a 13-point gap.
But Boiko’s presence at the post and Tunnah’s contribution from both inside and beyond the three-point line kept Portlaoise in contention.
And when Sarah Fleming took the max when she went to the free-throw line and Boiko converted another offensive rebound, the deficit was whittled back to just two (57-55) heading into the fourth.
A Hollie Dunne basket squared the game within 30 seconds of the restart, but just as quick as they had seen their 13-point cushion wiped out, Celtics served up a 10-point run to retake control of the tie once again, Kane sinking two trebles either side of a brilliant reverse layup and jump shot by Bursch.
This time, the hosts managed to keep their opponents at arm’s length all the way to the final buzzer, Bursch also striking from beyond the arc ahead of buckets from Kane and Erin Boyce down the stretch.
The next round of fixtures in Women’s Super League sees Portlaoise back in St Mary’s Hall for the visit of Trinity Meteors on Saturday night.
Brooke Kane, Kate O’Flaherty, Aoibhinn Doyle, Katie Williamson, Destinee Bursch, Clara Boyce, Sorcha Tiernan, Erin Boyce, Áine O’Connor.
Brooke Kane (23), Destinee Bursch (22), Sorcha Tiernan (13), Áine O’Connor (10).
Holli Dunne, Shauna Dooley, Ciara Byrne, Megan Dunne, Lynn Tunnah, Jasmine Burke, Elaine Kennington, Christiana Ojide Boiko, Sarah Fleming, Alyssa Velles.
Lynn Tunnah (26), Christiana Ojide Boiko (20), Alyssa Velles (6), Sarah Fleming (6), Holli Dunne (6).
