It was a double whammy of wins for Maree at the weekend, as both their men’s and women’s Super League sides saw off the challenges of DCU in remarkably similar fashion. Elsewhere, Moycullen were beaten by DBS Eanna in the Men's Superleague.
Maree ended DCU Mercy’s unbeaten streak in the Women’s Super League with a thrilling 72-70 victory in Galway on Saturday evening.
Maree came into the game seeking redemption after losing out to DCU in the opening round of the Hula Hoops Cup, and it was a late Aine McDonagh score that ultimately gave the hosts victory in a nail-biting clash. A close opening half saw nothing separating the sides, with DCU’s Meredith Burkhall dominating inside, while Fiona Scally picked up some key scores at the other end for Maree to see just four in it at the half, Mercy leading 38-42. Maree came out after the break on a mission, playing excellent defence and executing the fast break. DCU were able to weather the storm, thanks to Sarah Woods and Burkhall once again and held a 55-60 heading into the final quarter. Mercy maintained their lead until late in the fourth, but Maree were right there with them every step of the way through Scally, Claire Rockall and Carly McClendon. With the clock ticking down, there was nothing between the sides and with DCU in foul trouble, the game hung in the balance. It was Aine McDonagh who was the hero for Maree though, as she grabbed a difficult rebound and immediately went coast-to-coast to score and it proved to be just enough to seal the win for the Galway side.
Speaking after the game, head coach Joe Shields said, “We respected DCU's record coming down here, they hadn’t been beaten and that shows us that in our first season in the Super League, we belong here. I believe that was our best team performance all season.”
Maree 72-70 DCU Mercy - Top scorers Maree: Fiona Scally 19, Claire Rockall 17, Carly McClendon 16
In the Men’s Super League, Maree had the better of DCU Saints as they won out by a point in Dublin. The visitors had a strong start, running into a 31-42 point lead at half time thanks to solid scoring from Darin Johnson and Eoin Rockall. Maree remained in front in the third, despite good work from DCU’s Mike Bonaparte, Martins Provizors and Charlie Coombes to see it 51-59 in favour of the visitors going into the last quarter. The fourth quarter was a titanic battle though, as Bonaparte led the drive for Saints, and with just over two minutes on the clock, the hosts trailed by two points, 68-70. It remained on a knife edge as the clock wound down, with Maree leading by one point with just over 20 seconds to play, before a big Bonaparte score put Saints up by one with just over 10 seconds to go. A well-timed Maree timeout saw Paul Freeman hit a big score for the Galway outfit on the restart, and that would prove to be the game winner as Saints’ buzzer beating effort didn’t find its target and Maree took the win, 72-73.
Speaking afterwards Maree’s Mike Lynch stated: “I’m thrilled to get the win. The players showed great composure in the last few minutes to win by a point. DCU staged a strong comeback and we had to work very hard on our match ups to finish the game out. The team are working really hard in training and so it was good that they were rewarded for their efforts.”
DCU Saints 72-73 Maree - Top scorers Maree: Darin Johnson 28, Eoin Rockall 13, Oriol Plaza 10
Rounding up the weekend Basketball action is Adrian O'Neill...
