Ireland come close to incredible upset at FIBA U18 Women's European Championship

Ireland have bowed out of the main bracket of the FIBA U18 Women’s European Championship at the quarter-final stage, following an epic 66-59 defeat to tournament favourites Croatia.

A heroic effort saw Ireland level 55-55 with 3:21 on the clock when Lucy Devoy drained a monster three, but to their credit Croatia responded with a decisive 7-0 run immediately after to ice the game.

Ireland knew it would take something special to overcome their opponents and they gave Croatia all they could handle in the opening quarter. Trailing 9-7 at the midway point, Emma Tolan and Prenter combined for 10 points in the closing minutes to leave Tommy O’Mahony’s side 17-14 ahead by the close of play.

The momentum further swung towards Ireland early in the second. Katie O’Sullivan continuing her fine tournament when called upon from the free-throw line to make it 20-14 and Croatian coach Dean Nemec knew his team were in a game. A prolific shooting stretch from the game’s top scorer Lana Beslic, including two of her four threes, restored parity as the half drew to a close but there was still time for Ava Walshe to join the layup party and O’Sullivan to make a three of her own and it was 30-30 at the break.

Ireland found points harder to come by in the third as their opponent’s defence stiffened. Croatia would eventually outscore Ireland 20-10, taking a seemingly commanding 10 point advantage into the final quarter. That proved to be a false dawn for the favourites.

O’Sullivan went hard to the basket to start the fourth, drawing the foul in the process and when she stole the ensuing inbounds and found Ava Walshe, who in turn fed Grace Prenter for the layup, Ireland moved to within five. This appeared the disrupt the Croatian confidence and just a few minutes later, Ireland drew level once more. This time it was the turn of Lucy Devoy to catch fire. The Limerick Celtics star rattled off 5 points in the space of 15 seconds including a corner three that had the Triaditza Hall on its feet. Ireland sniffed an historic upset. That was until Besic stepped up for her team on the offensive end with the decisive score, returning Ireland’s deficit to 3 points, something they wouldn’t recover from in the closing 2:25 of play. 

Grace Prenter and Ava Walshe added further scores as Ireland kept going until the final buzzer, but in the end it’s a spot in tomorrow’s classification games and a performance to be proud of.

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