On Sunday 27th October, the Kilkenny Stars Ladies team wrote themselves firmly into the history of the club by competing in their first senior game in the Basketball Ireland National Development League.  The team has been assembled from a very young pool of players who all came up through the underage structure in the club and this game was a proud occasion for players, parents, coaches and the wider club membership.

The team proudly bears the name “CluneTech Kilkenny Stars” to recognise our sponsor.  CluneTech is a suite of companies which provide industry-leading solutions that simplify global business and originates right here in Kilkenny.  For more information you can check out their website https://www.clunetech.com/

To play local rivals Portlaoise Panthers in their first game was pretty special for the Ladies on the Sunday night of the bank holiday weekend.  A large contingent of supporters made the trip along with the team to St Mary’s Hall, Portlaoise for the game.  The first quarter was played at blistering pace with Gemma Lawlor scoring the first ever basket for Kilkenny Stars in the National League.  The Stars were relentless in their defence limiting their opponents to tough shots while different types of scores were coming from all over the Stars team. Faye McDonnell and Ava Coogan proved a handful throughout the game and Faye Scanlon was rewarded with some scores off the back of her amazing defence while Aimee O’Reilly added a few buckets after being introduced late in the quarter.  The Stars went in at the end of the first quarter with a 19 v 10 lead.

The second quarter was even more impressive than the first as The Stars continued their aggressive defence and scores were now coming from Aoibhin Dunphy, Lucy Coomey and Clodagh O’Neill off the bench.  The pressure was relentless and it looked like the game was almost over as a contest by half time with Stars ahead on a scoreline of 47 v 19.

In the third quarter Portlaoise rallied and changed to a zone defence which certainly slowed down the onslaught from the Stars Ladies who were held to just 2 points in the quarter while Portlaoise rattled home 9 to get them back within a reasonable distance setting up an interesting and nervy final quarter.

It was Portlaoise who came out the stronger at the start of the quarter and managed to cut the lead to 13 points at one stage (from a max of 28).  A quick 5 points from Gemma Lawlor kick-started the Stars into action in the final quarter and they never looked back finishing very strongly with more contributions from a strong bench by Kila Kavanagh, Aoibhin Timmons and a fine score to end the game by Elena Lauhoff. 

Overall Coach Puff Summers was very happy with the performance but did say that there is a lot more to come from this team, they are young and they will learn and continue to get better with each game.  Next up is a huge home game against Dublin Raiders next weekend and we are expecting a big crowd to raise the roof on the O’Loughlin Gaels venue at 7pm. 

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Scorers: Aoibhin Dunphy 14, Faye McDonnell 13, Ava Coogan 10, Faye Scanlon 8, Gemma Lawlor 7, Aimee O’Reilly 6, Clodagh O’Neill 3, Elena Lauhoff 2, Lucy Coomey 2, Kila Kavanagh, Aoibhin Timmons.