NUIG Mystics are celebrating this weekend as they finally secured their first Women’s Super League win of the season, with a 68-65 point win over Singleton SuperValu Brunell in Galway on Saturday evening.
Despite being without the services of key player, Aine McDonagh, a superb performance from 2017 Ireland Under 18 international Dayna Finn and the talented Deirdre O’Shea saw Mystics hold firm to close out the win.
“I’m so happy,” said head coach, Mike Murray, afterwards. “We have been preparing well, and we did a lot of work getting ready this week, and it finally paid off. Dayna Finn was brilliant, she had a double-double with 17 points and more than 10 rebounds, and Deirdre O’Shea was just fantastic too. Everyone just played so well, they all did their job and we finally got the win.
"The second half of the season is hugely important, and after losing by so much in the Cup against DCU we knew we needed to regroup and we worked all week on it and we got the win, that’s the main thing – it means a lot.”
Elsewhere, Pyrobel Killester bounced back strong to win out against top of the table DCU Mercy on Saturday evening. The game was neck-in-neck throughout and with 9 seconds to go, Killester drew level at 65 points apiece and a lay-up from Hannah Thornton saw them win by two in the end.
“We’re delighted,” said head coach, Karl Kilbride. “We’ve had a rough couple of weeks, we trained really hard over Christmas and we got two poor results in the Cup and League against Glanmire so we’re delighted we were able to come out and give that performance. I’m really proud of the girls for how hard they worked and how well they played.”
Portlaoise Panthers meanwhile secured a big win on the road against Maxol WIT Wildcats on Saturday evening, with Stephanie Poland pitching in with a 33-point performance, while Ambassador UCC Glanmire had too much for IT Carlow Basketball on Sunday, winning out 85-58 in the end.
In the Men’s Super League meanwhile, UCC Demons and Black Amber Templeogue played out an overtime thriller for the second time this season, with Templeogue managing to win out 105-103 in the end.
A superb display from Demons’ Kyle Hosford, Lehmon Colbert and player/coach Colin O’Reilly drew the game level at full time at 92-92, but strong shooting from Luke Thompson down the stretch saw Templeogue home to victory.
Elsewhere, Maree almost caused a major upset for league leaders UCD Marian in Galway on Saturday evening, as they ran the table toppers extremely close. A 25-point game from Conor Meany and a strong finish from Neil Baynes kept the leaders in their place though as they ran out 83-79 point winners in the end.
Pyrobel Killester made it a double-header of wins at home for the club on Saturday evening as they won out 89-58 against Belfast Star.
“It was a good win, we performed quite well for long periods,” said coach, Brian O’Malley. “Defensively I think in the first half we did a good job to limiting them to tougher shots and we were able to get out and run. The scoreline is a bit flattering, as there are definitely areas we need to work on for the next game.”
There was big scoring between DCU Saints and Garvey’s Tralee Warriors on Saturday evening, and though Dee Proby bagged 43 points for DCU, Tralee’s Trae Pemberton pitched in with 41 points and good scoring from Darragh O'Hanlon at the other end to give them enough to run out 110-74 point winners over the Saints.
Griffith College Swords Thunder also won out over KUBS, while Moycullen won out 74-62 against Éanna in Dublin.
Basketball Ireland Results: January 20th-21st
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
Pyrobel Killester 89-58 Belfast Star
DCU Saints 74-110 Garvey’s Tralee Warriors
Éanna 62-74 Moycullen
Maree 79-83 UCD Marian
KUBS BC 66-86 Griffith College Swords Thunder
UCC Demons 103-105 Black Amber Templeogue (after overtime)
Basketball Ireland Women’s Super League:
NUIG Mystics 68-65 Singleton SuperValu Brunell
Pyrobel Killester 67-65 DCU Mercy
Maxol WIT Wildcats 71-74 Portlaoise Panthers
Ambassador UCC Glanmire 85-58 IT Carlow Basketball
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division One:
Paris Texas Kilkenny 86-76 EJ Sligo All-Stars
LIT Celtics 93-82 Dublin Lions
Keane’s Supervalu Killorglin 90-66 Ulster University Elks
Neptune 101-74 IT Carlow Basketball
Fr Mathews 80-91 Ballincollig
GameFootage.net Titans 69-113 Scotts Lakers St Paul’s Killarney
Basketball Ireland Women’s Division One:
Marble City Hawks 63-44 Fr Mathews
Fabplus North West 47-50 Meteors
Ulster University Elks 59-62 UL Huskies
Basketball Ireland Detailed Results: January 20th-21st
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
Éanna 62-74 Moycullen
Top scorers Éanna: Mlynue Reeves 17, Conor Gallagher 15, Aidan Dunne 10
Top scorers Moycullen: Brandon McGuire 27, Dylan Cunningham 10, Patrick Lyons 9, James Loughnane 9
Half time score: Éanna 34-33 Moycullen
Maree 79-83 UCD Marian
Top scorers Maree: Corey Hammell 19, Cathal Finn 15, Kenneth Hansberry 15
Top scorers UCD Marian: Conor Meany 25, Joan Jordi Vall Llobera 14, Neil Baynes 13
Half time score: Maree 46-49 UCD Marian
Basketball Ireland Women’s Super League:
NUIG Mystics 68-65 Singleton SuperValu Brunell
Top scorers NUIG Mystics: Dayna Finn 17, Deirdre O Shea 16, Jade Johnson 15
Top scorers Singleton SuperValu Brunell: Breana Bey 23, Danielle O Leary 14, Amy Waters 8
Half time score: NUIG Mystics 33-38 Singleton SuperValu Brunell
Basketball Ireland Men’s Division One:
Gamefootage.net Titans 69-113 Scotts Lakers St Paul’s Killarney
Top scorers Gamefootage.net Titans: Toms Fabriciuss 30, Eoin Coughlan 19, Rando Kozlov 19
Top scorers Scotts Lakers St Paul’s Killarney: Antuan Bootle 24, Andrew Fitzgerald 21, Dan Griffen 18
Half time score: Gamefootage.net Titans 28-51 Scotts Lakers St Paul’s Killarney
Fixtures below include – Hula Hoops National Cup Finals, SUBWAY Schools Cup finals and regular season
Basketball Ireland Fixtures – Regular Season
Thursday 25th January 2018
Basketball Ireland Men’s Super League:
Éanna v Griffith College Swords Thunder, Colaiste Éanna, 20:30;
Hula Hoops National Cup final Fixtures 2018
Session 1
Friday, January 26th, 2018
Hula Hoops IWA Wheelchair Basketball Final
Killester WBC v Ballybrack WBC, 18.30
Hula Hoops Under 20 Women’s National Cup final
Brunell v DCU Mercy, 20.30
Session 2
Saturday, January 27th, 2018
Hula Hoops NICC Men’s National Cup final
Blue Demons v BC Leixlip Zalgiris, 10.00
Hula Hoops Under 18 Women’s National Cup final
Glanmire v DCU Mercy, 12.00
Hula Hoops Under 18 Men’s National Cup final
Neptune v Templeogue, 14.00
Hula Hoops President’s Cup Final
Ballincollig v Keane’s SuperValu Killorglin, 16.00
Session 3 - SOLD OUT
Saturday, January 27th, 2018
Hula Hoops Pat Duffy National Cup final
UCD Marian v Black Amber Templeogue, 20.00
Session 4
Sunday, January 28th, 2018
Hula Hoops Under 20 Men’s National Cup final
Moycullen v KUBS, 10.00
Hula Hoops NICC Women’s National Cup Final
Killester v St Mary’s Castleisland, 12.00
Hula Hoops Senior Women’s Cup final
Fr Mathews v Meteors, 14.00
Exhibition Game
Masters Exhibition, 16.00
Hula Hoops Women’s National Cup final
DCU Mercy v Ambassador UCC Glanmire, 17.30
SUBWAY All Ireland Schools Cup (U16 and U19) Fixtures 2018
NOTE: All games will take place at the National Basketball Arena, Tallaght.
Tuesday 23rd January 2018
10:30am U19C Girls
Carrick On Shannon Community School (Leitrim) v Colaiste Pobail Setanta (Dublin)
12:15pm U16C Boys
Sligo Grammar (Sligo) v St Munchin’s (Limerick)
1:45pm U19A Boys
St Malachy's (Belfast) v Templeogue College (Dublin)
3:30pm U16C Girls
Jesus & Mary Gortnor Abbey (Mayo) v St Colmcilles Knocklyon (Dublin)
Wednesday 24th January 2018
10:30am U19B Girls
Ulidia Integrated College (Antrim) v Loreto Stephens Green (Dublin)
12:15pm U16B Boys
Colaiste Einde (Galway) v Colaiste an Spioraid Naoimh (Cork)
1:45pm U16B Girls
Muckross Park College (Dublin) v Presentation Secondary School Tralee (Kerry)
3:30pm U19B Boys
St Paul’s Oughterard (Galway) v St Vincent’s Castleknock College (Dublin)
Thursday 25th January 2018
10:30am U16A Girls
Crescent Comprehensive (Limerick) v Scoil Chriost Rí Portlaoise (Laois)
12:15pm U19A Girls
Christ King (Cork) v Colaiste Chiarain Leixlip (Kildare)
1:45pm U16A Boys
St Mary's CBS The Green, Tralee (Kerry) v St Malachy's Belfast
