Ireland edged 96-90 by Latvia in FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers

Ireland head coach James Weldon said he was “incredibly proud” of his team, after they fell to a heartbreaking 96-90 defeat to world number 28 Latvia at the National Basketball Arena on Sunday in the Group E of the FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers.

Ireland, who are ranked 85^th in the world, came close to causing a major upset, leading 90-89 with 1’19” to go, following Edel Thornton’s free throws. However a nerveless three and two free throws from Kitija Laska and a pair of free throws for Anete Steinberga – who finished with 33 points – saw Latvia just get over the line.

Ireland had a host eye-catching performances, Claire Melia chief among them with 26 points, 12 rebounds, five assists and four turnovers. She got Ireland off the mark in the opening seconds with a layup for an early 2-0 lead. Latvia’s captain Steinberga certainly led by example in the opening quarter at both ends, collecting 13 points and nine rebounds. A four point run by Steinberga just before the midpoint was ended by Kate Hickey, who came off the bench to make an immediate impact with a three, to see Ireland trail 16-12. Latvia had built a nine point lead coming into the closing stages of the quarter, only for Ireland captain Thornton to land an end of quarter buzzer beating three to reduce the deficit to 24-18 and get the sell-out crowd to their feet.

©️ Love that, Captain! 🫡

Q2 04:31 | 🇮🇪 33-36 🇱🇻#GreenMeansGo | @EuroBasketWomen pic.twitter.com/CjKld3cK0Y

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) February 9, 2025

Ireland made an excellent start to the second quarter and were back level, 24-24, following Sarah Hickey’s second layup of the quarter with a minute and a half gone. Ireland hit the front 28-26 in the third minute following two Sarah Hickey free throws.

Back-to-back three’s from Digna Strautmane had Latvia ahead by four, 34-30. But Ireland were back within one, 38-37, following Melia’s three with four minutes to go – Melia was excelling and had 20 points and 11 rebounds by half-time. A pair of Aine O’Connor free throws and Ireland were 46-45 up with a minute to go in the quarter. Latvia finished strongly, a corner three from Katrina Ozola and an end of quarter buzzer beater three from Laksa handed the away side a 51-46 advantage.

Latvia had stretched their lead to nine points, before Sorcha Tiernan’s three cut the gap to 56-50 with three minutes gone. Ireland were 61-50 down following a Steinberga free throw, but an eight point run dragged James Weldon’s side back into the contest. It began with free throws from Melia and Thornton, followed by a fastbreak and layup by Hazel Finn, but the best of the points was Kate Hickey’s shotclock beating three from midway between the three point line and the halfway line, to trail 61-58 with 3’16” to go in the third. Ireland hit the front with 1’36 remaining, following a Sarah Hickey three and a Kate Hickey layup, to lead 64-63.

🥶 Let's take another look at that Kate Hickey 3️⃣-pointer! 🚨

Q3 01:15 | 🇮🇪 64-63 🇱🇻#GreenMeansGo | @EuroBasketWomen pic.twitter.com/T0I1pI7GnV

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) February 9, 2025

It was level at 68-68 in the closing seconds, following a Sarah Hickey layup, but two free throws from Steinberga brought her tally to 31 points, to hand Latvia a narrow 70-68 lead going into the final quarter.

A pair of Sorcha Tiernan layups and a Sarah Hickey jump shot got Ireland up and running in the fourth, before Kate Vilka landed a three to make it 80-74 with three minutes gone in the quarter. Digna Strautmane and Melia exchanged three’s midway through the quarter, Ireland trailing 83-79 with four and a half minutes to go. But a dogged Ireland wouldn’t relent, a five point run by Bridget Herlihy and layups from Thornton and Sarah Hickey had Ireland 88-87 up with 1’48 to go – Hickey ended with 19 points and nine rebounds.

The lead was exchanged after this, Luize Sila’s layup was cancelled out by two Edel Thornton free throws, before Laksa’s three had Latvia 92-90 to the good with 1’10” to go and they would cling on for victory thanks to some joy from the free throw line.

Ireland head coach James Weldon said: “I thought it was an incredible performance from where we possibly were mentally after the game on Thursday. Latvia were coming here to win by a lot to qualify for EuroBasket, we’ve just knocked them out of EuroBasket. They have two Euroleague players, probably the best shooter in the Euroleague playing for them, Laska, Steinberga showed all her experience today, you can’t take everything away, she had 33 points. I am incredibly proud of the girls, this win is coming, it’s definitely coming. The next cycle, the new (FIBA Women’s EuroBasket) format, the talent that is there and more players coming through. It’s such a positive performance, obviously gutted we didn’t get over the line, but we scored 90 points in a EuroBasket game, I thought we were incredible offensively, lots and lots of positives to take.”

Quarter Scores:

Q1: 18-24, Q2: 28-27, Q3: 22-19, Q4: 22-26

Game Scores:

Q1: 18-24, Q2: 46-51, Q3: 68-70, Q4: 90-96

Ireland:

Michelle Clarke (0), Kate Hickey (9), Sarah Hickey (19), Hazel Finn (4), Lauryn Homan (DNP), Edel Thornton (14), Abigail Rafferty (0), Claire Melia (26), Bridget Herlihy (9), Sorcha Tiernan (7), Amy Dooley (DNP), Áine O’Connor (2).

Latvia:

Elizabete Bulane (DNP), Paula Strautmane (0), Ketija Vihmane (8), Anete Steinberga (33), Ilze Jakobsone (4), Laura Meldere (DNP), Lina Loceniece (0), Luize Sila (11), Kitija Laksa (17), Kate Vilka (6), Katrina Ozola (3), Digna Strautmane (14).

FIBA Women’s EuroBasket 2025 Qualifiers Group E Results

Sunday 9^th February 2025 

Ireland 90-96 Latvia

Thursday 6^th February 2025

France 125-24 Ireland