Ireland U16 girls take second spot in the Four Nations standings

Ireland U16 girls capped a superb two days of basketball by finishing second in the Four Nations, coming up just short 73-61, despite a fine display against a powerful England side. 

Kira Lynch, Una O’Brien and Sophie Staunton showed their scoring prowess to all reach double digits, while Kaitlyn Summers ran the point very effectively in tandem with some strong defensive play by Ciara Brogan and Fay McDonell throughout.  

After convincing wins against Wales and Scotland on day one, it all came down to a winner take all tie with unbeaten England for Laura Mullally’s team and proceedings started perfectly when Kira Lynch took the ball to the house from the tip-off. Ireland held their own thereafter, Sophie Staunton and Ciara Brogan making their presence felt along with Lynch, though a Verbeeten three as the clock expired meant the home side trailed 22-19 heading to the second.

 O'Brien on one of Ireland's many fast breaks in the game. 

It was the second quarter that proved to be the difference between the teams. England’s stingy defence limited Ireland to 8 points, as they accumulated 20 of their own. Kaitlyn Summers free-throws ensured the gap was 15 points, 42-27 at the interval.

Lynch, Andrea Chislyn Jude and Una O’Brien all made three-point shots in the third, as Ireland attempted to engineer a comeback, but England were always able to keep them at arm’s length. A long range three by Costa helped them to a 58-40 lead heading into the fourth. To their credit Ireland played their best basketball in the final quarter, scoring 21 points while restricting their opponents to 15 but it wasn’t enough and England ran out deserving winners at the buzzer.

Aoibheann Donnelly makes the pass in front of Megan Verbeeten. 

Head coach Laura Mullally was taking the positives afterwards: “My old college coach used to say that people don’t change until the pain is great enough and this will sting for us for sure, but the biggest takeaway was that everyone finished the game really well. That could have been a huge blowout if the girls stopped playing. That’s not an x’s and o’s thing, that just came from how much they love each other and they played an outstanding second-half.”

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U16 Girls Four Nations results: 

Wednesday 5^th April  

Scotland 37-76 England

Ireland 90-39 Wales

England 91-41 Wales

Ireland 81-58 Scotland

Thursday 6^th April 

Wales 33-62 Scotland

Ireland 61-73 England