The Address UCC Glanmire stay top of MissQuote.ie Super League

Ireland international Claire Melia, who picked up the MVP in the InsureMyHouse.ie Paudie O’Connor Cup final, continued her fine form scoring 42 points, as The Address UCC Glanmire followed up their Cup success with a 104-97 win at in-form Killester on Saturday in the MissQuote.ie Super League. Head coach Mark Scannell heaped praised on Melia, stating “she ran the show”.

Killester went into the game on the back of a four-game winning run, and fought back from a 54-41 half-time deficit to lead 74-71 going into the final quarter, only to succumb to the Cork club in the final quarter.

“Delighted to win up in Killester in what was a great game. We made 14 3’s and Killester made 15. Great entertainment. Very good team performance again, especially without Tierney (Pfirman). Killester with four good shooting guards is always a tough match-up for us, but we adjusted well, and Claire (Melia) had one of those games tonight where she ran the show and scored an incredible 42 points. Great way to finish off the week. Great credit due to all our team and to Ronan and Kenneth for the work they put in this week in training, when the easy thing to do was to take a few nights off.” - Mark Scannell, The Address UCC Glanmire head coach

Mimi Clarke and Myah Taylor were joint-top scorers for Killester, on 26 points.

WIT Waterford Wildcats are second in the table, they won 83-62 against Trinity Meteors. Tommy O’Mahony’s side led 50-32 at the break and saw the game out. Rachel Thompson top scored for the victors on 25 points, while Jaz Walker had 20 and Sarah Hickey had 13. A’Lexxus Davis and Takyra Gilbert led scoring for Trinity Meteors with 14 and 12 points respectively.

WIT Waterford Wildcats head coach, Tommy O’Mahony, is still looking for improvements from his side. “We kept up against a very good Meteors team tonight and had to be at our best to pull out a result. The first half I thought our offence worked well, but our defence needs a lot of work. The second half was more of battle, with us managing to maintain the lead. Delighted to get the win, but we will need to work hard at training and improve on our weakness in order to be ready for our next game.”

Rachel Thompson scored 25 points for WIT Waterford Wildcats in win over Trinity Meteors

Team Garvey’s St Mary’s claimed an 68-67 overtime win over DCU Mercy. Mark Ingle’s side led 36-34 at half-time, but it was Team Garvey’s St Mary’s who had a two point advantage at the end of the third 54-52, only for the sides to finish level at 64-64. Overtime

Paris McCarthy, who recently committed to East Tennessee State University, top scored for the winners, with 17 points, followed by Denise Dunlea (16) and Deirdre Geaney (12). Bailey Greenberg led scoring for DCU Mercy, with 16, while Rachel Huijsdens notched up 10 and there were nine points apiece for Alarie Mayze and Hannah Thornton.

Liam Culloty, Team Garvey's St. Mary's head coach, said lessons had been learned from their 84-79 defeat to Fr. Mathews last time out. “We are absolutely thrilled to pick up another win in the Super League. I'm so proud of all of our team. We battled hard for 45 minutes against an excellent DCU Mercy team and having lost our last game (against Fr. Mathews) in overtime two weeks ago, we were able to draw on that experience to get over the line tonight. We have really improved since the start of the season and playing with no professional has really bonded our group together. Their team spirit is incredible and I'm so happy that their efforts were rewarded tonight with a huge win.”

Leixlip Amenities Liffey Celtics moved to a 5-5 record with a 74-62 home win over IT Carlow Basketball, halting a three-game losing streak in the process. Sorcha Tiernan top scored for the County Kildare outfit with 18 points, followed by Kate O’Flaherty (13) and Karen Mealy (8). Alyssa Velles was the game’s top scorer on 25, backed up by Lauren LaPlant (19) and Holly Dunne (8).

Leixlip Amenities Liffey Celtics head coach, Ioannis Liapakis, was happy with his team’s game management. “As I said on the pregame quote, it was a game between two desperate teams. In the first half we did an amazing job, and we dominated the game defensively and offensively. In the second half we slowed down the tempo and we controlled the game until the end. So we are very pleased with the result and our first half performance.

Singleton SuperValu Brunell brushed off the late withdrawal of their American Kwanza Murray to defeat Fr. Mathews 72-66 at Parochial Hall in the Cork derby on Sunday. There was just a point between the sides at half-time, with the home team ahead 38-37. A strong third quarter saw Singleton SuperValu Brunell pull away and led 58-50 going into the final quarter. Shannon Ryan had 22 points for Tim O’Halloran’s side, with Katie Walsh on 18 and Ireland co-captain Edel Thornton on 11. Ireland’s other co-captain, Gráinne Dwyer, notched up 26 points for Fr. Mathews, while Trish Byrne had 12.

Tim O’Halloran, Singleton SuperValu head coach was pleased to snap a two-game losing streak. “We are so happy to get back to winning ways. This league is very tough, with a lot of good teams and we had a real battle today with our local rivals Fr. Mathews. It was a battle to say the least, but I was proud the way we stood up to the fight, especially learning just before tip off that we would be without Kwanza Murray.”

In MissQuote.ie Division 1 NUIG Mystics picked up two wins over the weekend. They were comprehensive 78-29 victors over Marble City Hawks on Saturday, with their scoring evenly spread among Kara McCleane (15), Alison Blaney (15), Hazel Finn (12) and Aoife Ryan (10). For Marble City Hawks, scoring was led by Áine Sheehy (12), Elaine Kennington (7) and Grace Lawlor (6).

Hazel Finn scored 12 and 13 points in wins over Marble City Hawks and Portlaoise Panthers.

NUIG Mystics then got past Portlaoise Panthers 80-57 on Sunday, this time it was Áine McDonagh 14, Hazel Finn 13 and Sara Messler 11 who topped scoring for Paul O’Brien’s side, while for Portlaoise Panthers their main points scorers were Gillian Wheeler 13, Antigonie Sanabria 13, Lisa Blaney 8 and Ciara Byrne 8.

"Good two wins for us this weekend. Marble City played us tough the whole way, but again we were strong defensively and all 12 contributed. We were a bit sloppy at the start of the game against Portlaoise (Panthers), but found a good flow offensively and moved the ball really well. Portlaoise had a really tough game last night and we were maybe that bit fresher today.” - NUIG Mystics head coach, Paul O’Brien

On Saturday Portlaoise Panthers were narrow 67-66 winners over Limerick Sport Huskies, with Sanabria scoring almost half their points, on 31, followed by Ciara Wheeler (12) and Ciara Byrne (8). Limerick Sport Huskies had led by six at half-time, 40-34, but couldn’t complete the win - Taylor Herd (25) and Yuleska Ramirez Tejeda (17) topped their scoring charts.

December’s MissQuote.ie Division 1 player of the month Shannon Cunningham picked up another 25 points in LYIT Donegal’s 75-70 win over Swords Thunder. Maria Kealy had 15 points for Niall McDermott’s outfit. Swords Thunder’s scoring was headed by Peggy Black (21), Niamh O'Donovan (15), and Erica Egan (10).

Ulster University claimed a 77-69 win at Paudie O’Connor Cup finalists Griffith College Templeogue. Alex Mulligan (20), Ciara Cooke (16) and Lexi Posset (14) were the team’s top scorers. For the home side, the majority of their points came from Jah-Leah Ellis (20), Lynn Tunnah (10), Amie Tunnah and Hannah Murphy (both 8).

Limerick Celtics won 88-64 at Tipperary Knights. Sophia Paska, who scored 28 points in Tuesday’s 51-39 win over Marble City Hawks, backed it up with another 29 points on Sunday. Emily Tinnes scored 19 points and Danielle O’Leary picked up 17. Emma Carey led the offence for Tipperary Knights, on 33 points.