Two big tests await Ireland Under 20 women in next round of European Championships

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Two big tests await Ireland Under 20 women in next round of European Championships

The Ireland Under 20
women’s team have two big tests ahead of them in the coming days as Round 2 of
the 2019 FIBA U20 Women’s European Championship Division B tips off in Kosovo.

Ireland completed the
opening round of the tournament unbeaten, topping their group with wins over
Ukraine and Great Britain over the weekend. Now, they face into the second
round where they go head-to-head with Israel and Croatia on Wednesday and
Thursday respectively, with a spot in the semi finals up for grabs.

Ireland face a tricky
task against Israel in the first game, whose fast and aggressive game has
reaped big rewards for them to date. Point guard Dor Saar will be one of the
players to watch for the Israelis, having put in a superb tournament to date
for her side and currently leads her team in efficiency per game, points per
game, assists per games and is leading the tournament stats for three pointers.
Shely Sirkis and Romi Levi will also be key players for Ireland to close down
inside on the day.

Ireland meanwhile are not without their stars, and will look to the likes of
Dayna Finn, Claire Melia, Sorcha Tiernan and Rachel Huijdsens to be on form on
the day, but with a huge depth of talent across the squad, head coach Martin
Conroy is hopeful that the women in green will have too much for Israel.

“We’re really looking
forward to the challenge of this next round at the Euros and the game tomorrow
against Israel,” he said. “The team is in great form and can’t wait for tip
off. Israel are a super team and play a fast-paced game and are very effective
at getting to the basket, so we’ll have to try and counteract that and dictate
the pace of the game. They’re also quite strong defensively and look after
their boards very well, but while we have the utmost respect for them, we don’t
fear them.

“We’ve been playing some
really nice basketball since getting here, so we just need to focus now and
step up another gear to reach our next goal, and hopefully we’ll come out the
right side of what will be a tough battle tomorrow.”

Ireland takes on Israel at 3.30pm Irish time tomorrow (Wednesday). The game
will be live streamed on the Basketball Ireland Facebook page, with live
updates on the Basketball Ireland Twitter page (@bballirl).

OFFICIAL
EVENT WEBSITE: http://www.fiba.basketball/europe/u20bwomen/2019

IRELAND V
ISRAEL - YOUTUBE LIVE STREAM LINK: