Maree come up trumps in top of table league clash
MAREE’S two Super League sides completed the double over DCU on Saturday, with the women taking pride of place as they overturned the unbeaten league leaders in Oranmore.
In a game in which the sides were level on 10 different occasions, Maree came from five points down with two minutes remaining to seal a 2-point win as scores from Michelle Fahy, Carly McLendon, and Aine McDonagh – who bagged the last three points of the game – sealed the win.
The men’s sides from the two clubs went head-to-head in Dublin on the same night, and in another close finish, a Paul Freeman bucket five seconds from the final buzzer sealed a 73-72 win for the visitors.
There was disappointment for Moycullen in the Men’s Super League, however, as they lost 79-61 to Eanna in Dublin in the first of four consecutive away games that John Cunningham’s side face before Christmas.
WOMEN’S SUPER LEAGUE
Maree 72
DCU Mercy 70
A thrilling game with a nerve-jangling finish as Maree came from behind to clinch a statement-making win as they ended the visitors’ unbeaten 7-game start to the season.
In front of a packed gym in Calasanctius College, the sides went almost score for score in the first quarter, at the end of which the visitors led 24-22. It was a similar story in the second quarter, the home side talking the lead for the first time midway through the quarter when McLendon went two for two from the free-throw line.
The visitors finished stronger, however, hitting the last six points of the quarter to open up a 42-38 lead at the break, but Maree came storming out of the blocks at the start of the third quarter as McDonagh (2), McLendon (2), and Fiona Scally (4) all hit unanswered scores to push Maree into a 46-42 lead.
DCU replied with a scoring burst of their own, Nicole Clancy draining two 3-pointers – the only ones in the game – in a 12-point run to give them a 54-46 lead.
Alison Blaney and Claire Rockall halved the deficit with a couple of clutch scores for Maree, but it was the visitors who still held the upper hand at the end of the quarter, taking a 60-55 lead into the final 10 minutes.
However, once again Maree made a big start to the quarter, Rockall hitting six unanswered points to edge them in front, and the sides traded scores again before DCU opened up a five-point gap with three consecutive lay-ups.
For more, read this week’s Galway City Tribune.
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