Kilkenny Stars - 61
Brunell - 59
What a day for our club yesterday as our Under 18 Girls came from behind to beat Brunell and win the inaugural All Ireland League title at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght in front of a huge crowd of Stars supporters.
The game started at a frantic pace with Lena Zydek on fire early on hitting some big 3 pointers and Caoimhe Timmons using her electric pace to find the basket for 5 points in the quarter also. Scoring aside, this quarter was all about defence and finding a way to keep the very talented Brunell girls to a low score. The Stars were very successful implementing the game plan in the first quarter holding Brunell to just 7 points and hitting 14 of their own.
Both teams made some adjustments going into quarter 2 and the game was full of action at both ends of the floor with supporters really getting behind their teams. Aimee O'Reilly thundered into the game for The Stars and hit 9 of her 22 points in this quarter. Sally Power and Sarah Burke made big contributions in the quarter and Aoibheann Walsh and Lena Zydek landed another couple of three pointers!! Everything was going really well going into the half time break with an 11 point lead for the Kilkenny Girls.
The start of the 3rd quarter was a blitz from Brunell as they upped the intensity of their full court press to wipe out the Stars lead within a couple of minutes. The pressure was relentless and Brunell's best player on the day Abbie Lyons was in unstoppable form. The Cork girls turned the game on it's head with a huge 27 v 5 quarter meaning they now held an 11 point lead going into the final quarter. The turnaround did come at a cost for Brunell however as their aggressive defence led to their top 4 players carrying 3 fouls into the final quarter which would prove decisive.
The Stars girls found themselves in a tough spot having led throughout the first half and now faced an uphill battle to reel Brunell in. The girls did not look fazed at all though and gradually started to chip away at the lead with Aimee O'Reilly and Caoimhe Timmons leading the charge. Niamh Mulhall made her first entry into the game and had a huge impact using her height to great advantage making life very difficult for Brunell to execute on offence and she chipped in with 2 huge baskets of her own. The Stars got the gap back to 4 points but could not seem to bridge the gap any more until a big moment in the game when Brunell's star performer Abbie Lyons picked up her 5th foul and had to leave the game with almost 4 minutes left on the clock.
The crowd were on the edge of their seats as the game reached its closing stages with everything still to play for. Aoibheann Walsh hit a bit big shot from the wing to bring it back to just 2 points in the game followed by a big steal on the next offence by Caoimhe Timmons who was then fouled on the fast break. Timmons hit her first shot, missed the second which was then rebounded by Aimee O'Reilly who was then fouled and hit 1/2 free throws to make it a 1 point game with 3 minutes on the clock at 55 v 56. Without Abbie Lyons on the court the Brunell offence was now struggling to find rythm but up stepped McKenzie Lucey to hit a huge 3 pointer from way beyond the arc giving them a 4 point lead with 2 minutes on the clock. The Stars girls could have been disheartened from this shot but instead Caoimhe Timmons took possession of the ball and went coast to coast for a fantastic lay-up to reduce the lead to 2 just points. On the next play Lucey tried another long range dagger but this time was not successful. Lena Zydek picked up possession and threw an amazing left hand pass to Aimee O'Reilly on her way to the basket with a euro step and soft finish to the delight of the Kilkenny crowd who were on their feet at this stage. Draw game with just 90 seconds left to play.
The Stars defence was so solid in this quarter, there were no easy baskets on offer and Brunell only managed 9 points in this final period while the Stars converted 22 points. The most significant play of the game came with just 40 seconds left on the clock and the game tied. Brunell had missed a 3 point attempt in the corner, Timmons advanced the ball and handed off to Kayla Wall who was so solid throughout the game playing way beyond her 15 years. Wall passed to O'Reilly who gave it back to Wall and dived to the basket sealing her player. Wall cleverly found Zydek to make a better angle to get the pass into O'Reilly who caught in the post turned and shot a right handed hook shot over 2 Brunell defenders with ease.
There were a couple of nervy moments and a few missed shots by both sides after that but when the buzzer finally went the Arena erupted. The underdogs had done it in the wildest of fashion. Going up 11 by half time, going down 11 in the 3rd quarter and showing that never die attitude to claw their way back and win the game with an unbelievable team score converted by Aimee O'Reilly.
The Most Valuable Player award went to O'Reilly who had an astonishing 22 points and 20 rebounds in the game.
This team has been through so much this season and truly are trailblazers for our club making history with our first National Title. A huge amount of work has gone into getting the girls prepared for this game with Puff Summers leading the way as Head Coach and Grainne Timmons as Assistant Coach/Team Manager/Counsellor/Mammy :)
The support that travelled yesterday was phenomenal and I have no doubt was a contributing factor to helping the girls get over the line. The sponsors of this team Robert Quinn Ltd have been amazing and arranged a nice keepsake for the girls to remember the occassion. A great night of celebrations was had in Langtons who are a sponsor of our National League Team.
Next up, Kilkenny & South East Top 4 Tournament.
Brunell - 59
What a day for our club yesterday as our Under 18 Girls came from behind to beat Brunell and win the inaugural All Ireland League title at the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght in front of a huge crowd of Stars supporters.
The game started at a frantic pace with Lena Zydek on fire early on hitting some big 3 pointers and Caoimhe Timmons using her electric pace to find the basket for 5 points in the quarter also. Scoring aside, this quarter was all about defence and finding a way to keep the very talented Brunell girls to a low score. The Stars were very successful implementing the game plan in the first quarter holding Brunell to just 7 points and hitting 14 of their own.
Both teams made some adjustments going into quarter 2 and the game was full of action at both ends of the floor with supporters really getting behind their teams. Aimee O'Reilly thundered into the game for The Stars and hit 9 of her 22 points in this quarter. Sally Power and Sarah Burke made big contributions in the quarter and Aoibheann Walsh and Lena Zydek landed another couple of three pointers!! Everything was going really well going into the half time break with an 11 point lead for the Kilkenny Girls.
The start of the 3rd quarter was a blitz from Brunell as they upped the intensity of their full court press to wipe out the Stars lead within a couple of minutes. The pressure was relentless and Brunell's best player on the day Abbie Lyons was in unstoppable form. The Cork girls turned the game on it's head with a huge 27 v 5 quarter meaning they now held an 11 point lead going into the final quarter. The turnaround did come at a cost for Brunell however as their aggressive defence led to their top 4 players carrying 3 fouls into the final quarter which would prove decisive.
The Stars girls found themselves in a tough spot having led throughout the first half and now faced an uphill battle to reel Brunell in. The girls did not look fazed at all though and gradually started to chip away at the lead with Aimee O'Reilly and Caoimhe Timmons leading the charge. Niamh Mulhall made her first entry into the game and had a huge impact using her height to great advantage making life very difficult for Brunell to execute on offence and she chipped in with 2 huge baskets of her own. The Stars got the gap back to 4 points but could not seem to bridge the gap any more until a big moment in the game when Brunell's star performer Abbie Lyons picked up her 5th foul and had to leave the game with almost 4 minutes left on the clock.
The crowd were on the edge of their seats as the game reached its closing stages with everything still to play for. Aoibheann Walsh hit a bit big shot from the wing to bring it back to just 2 points in the game followed by a big steal on the next offence by Caoimhe Timmons who was then fouled on the fast break. Timmons hit her first shot, missed the second which was then rebounded by Aimee O'Reilly who was then fouled and hit 1/2 free throws to make it a 1 point game with 3 minutes on the clock at 55 v 56. Without Abbie Lyons on the court the Brunell offence was now struggling to find rythm but up stepped McKenzie Lucey to hit a huge 3 pointer from way beyond the arc giving them a 4 point lead with 2 minutes on the clock. The Stars girls could have been disheartened from this shot but instead Caoimhe Timmons took possession of the ball and went coast to coast for a fantastic lay-up to reduce the lead to 2 just points. On the next play Lucey tried another long range dagger but this time was not successful. Lena Zydek picked up possession and threw an amazing left hand pass to Aimee O'Reilly on her way to the basket with a euro step and soft finish to the delight of the Kilkenny crowd who were on their feet at this stage. Draw game with just 90 seconds left to play.
The Stars defence was so solid in this quarter, there were no easy baskets on offer and Brunell only managed 9 points in this final period while the Stars converted 22 points. The most significant play of the game came with just 40 seconds left on the clock and the game tied. Brunell had missed a 3 point attempt in the corner, Timmons advanced the ball and handed off to Kayla Wall who was so solid throughout the game playing way beyond her 15 years. Wall passed to O'Reilly who gave it back to Wall and dived to the basket sealing her player. Wall cleverly found Zydek to make a better angle to get the pass into O'Reilly who caught in the post turned and shot a right handed hook shot over 2 Brunell defenders with ease.
There were a couple of nervy moments and a few missed shots by both sides after that but when the buzzer finally went the Arena erupted. The underdogs had done it in the wildest of fashion. Going up 11 by half time, going down 11 in the 3rd quarter and showing that never die attitude to claw their way back and win the game with an unbelievable team score converted by Aimee O'Reilly.
The Most Valuable Player award went to O'Reilly who had an astonishing 22 points and 20 rebounds in the game.
This team has been through so much this season and truly are trailblazers for our club making history with our first National Title. A huge amount of work has gone into getting the girls prepared for this game with Puff Summers leading the way as Head Coach and Grainne Timmons as Assistant Coach/Team Manager/Counsellor/Mammy :)
The support that travelled yesterday was phenomenal and I have no doubt was a contributing factor to helping the girls get over the line. The sponsors of this team Robert Quinn Ltd have been amazing and arranged a nice keepsake for the girls to remember the occassion. A great night of celebrations was had in Langtons who are a sponsor of our National League Team.
Next up, Kilkenny & South East Top 4 Tournament.
