International

Jul 12 2026

Ireland finish 8th at FIBA U20 Women’s Youth EuroBasket

Grace Prenter and Emma Tolan both scored over 100 points across seven games to lead Ireland to a top ten finish in Samokov, Bulgaria for a fourth consecutive year. Head coach Karl Kilbride thought Ireland were unlucky to not finish higher, but there were ‘lessons learnt’ from the tournament.

“It felt like the outcome didn’t match the girls effort and they were extremely unlucky at times,” said Kilbride. “The communication, togetherness and bond was great, it really felt like we had brilliant leaders throughout.”

“We’ll be bringing back six players next year and the lessons they’ve learnt are fantastic. We came over with aspirations of winning a medal and we came really close, it came down to small margins. Hopefully the girls can learn from this and go one step further to winning it next year,” added Kilbride.

Helena Keane was among the outstanding Irish talent with 85 points and 46 rebounds while Aoibheann Donnelly stepped up an age grade to play all seven games, securing a joint-high 15 steals for Ireland, tied with Aisling Moran. Faye McDonnell from Glanmire BC spoke about the high quality basketball that was played by Ireland throughout the tournament and what will be needed going forward.

“The tournament was good overall and we were a little bit disappointed to not come away with more wins, but to come eighth place isn’t something we can take for granted,” said McDonnell. “We’re really proud of how we played as a group and it was a great experience for everyone. There’s a huge amount of physicality at this U20 level in Europe and we’ll make sure that we’re ready for it next year.”

Emma Tolan against Azerbaijan in the FIBA U20 Women's Youth EuroBasket, 2026

Ireland were drawn into Group A alongside Azerbaijan, Greece and Albania, where the squad picked up two wins and a loss. In their opening 12-point win over Azerbaijan, co-captain Emma Tolan tallied 22 points and 12 rebounds, while her fellow co-captain Ava Walshe notched up 19 points.

A narrow six-point loss against silver-medalists Greece meant Ireland had to beat Albania to progress into the final eight. Seven players scored in the double-digits, with Grace Prenter summitting that list with 21 points in a 112-44 win.

Slovakia and Czechia awaited Ireland in the qualifying round, but two losses left Ireland in the 5^th-8^th bracket for the final two days. Ireland faced Bulgaria next in a match which saw Tolan and Prenter combine for 37 points; however, the Bulgarians came away 89-74 winners.

Ireland faced Czechia in the 7^th-8^th classification game, as they looked to flip the previous result between the sides, where Czechia won 94-65. Ireland led the game for the first three quarters, widening the gap to 12 at the end of the third, but a fourth quarter comeback from Czechia gave them a 63-57 win.

“It was a really tough one against Czechia and we feel like the girls didn’t get what they deserved because they worked so unbelievably hard. We had some amazing spells, going up by 13 twice, but I think we ran out of steam at the end,” said Kilbride. “To be playing at that speed and intensity for the last game of the tournament is an amazing credit to the work they’ve put in.”