In-form Maree women turn tables on league champions
A stunning second quarter performance saw Maree take down defending Women’s Super League champions, Liffey Celtics, on their home court in Kildare on Saturday night, but there was disappointment over the weekend for Galway’s other three national league sides.
Both Maree and Moycullen suffered home defeats in the Men’s Super League; while NUIG Mystics’ outside chances for promotion from the Women’s Division 1 appear to be over after they also suffered a home loss on Saturday.
The league is on a break this weekend as the various National Cup finals take centre stage, and Moycullen will be flying the Galway flag when they take on UCD Marian in the U-20 decider in the National Basketball Arena in Tallaght on Saturday (11.30am).
WOMEN’S SUPER LEAGUE
Liffey Celtics 62
Maree 78
Maree hit 20 unanswered points at the start of the second quarter in Kildare on Saturday night as they bounced back from a poor opening quarter to take total control against the defending Super League champions.
A poor first quarter performance sae Maree trail 21-16 at the buzzer, and they were only kept in the game by some good inside baskets by Fiona Scally, who would finish the game as their top scorer with 14 points.
The visitors were sluggish in that opening quarter, and failed to get their fast-break game going, but they did help their cause with some carelessness in possession, and once that was talked over at the break, it was a different Maree side that came out for the start of the second quarter.
Co-captain, Carol McCarthy, hit successive 3-pointers to push Maree 22-21 ahead, and the momentum was all Maree’s as Aine McDonagh converted an ‘and 1’ play. Scally, Claire Rockall, Maggie Byrne, and Dayna and Hazel Finn all hit baskets for Maree as the home side were left reeling, and by the midway point in the quarter, Maree had gone from trailing by five to leading by 15 on a 36-21 scoreline.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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