Killester retain Domino’s Women’s Super League title with 83-63 win over Utility Trust St. Paul’s

Killester have made it back-to-back Domino’s Women’s Super League titles, following a 83-63 victory over Utility Trust St. Paul’s in Sunday’s final at the National Basketball Arena.

Utility Trust St. Paul’s made a solid start and were up by five points, 9-4, four minutes in after Mathilde Diop’s basket. For Killester, Destiny Strother and Michelle Clarke were the driving force in the opening quarter, with seven points apiece, as they led 21-16 by the end of it.

Utility Trust St. Paul’s started the second quarter with a five-point run to bring the game level at 21-21, after Gracen Kerr slotted one of her two free throws. Killester responded with a nine point run, finished off by a Clarke three, to see the Dublin club 30-21 up midway through the quarter. 

A Clarke layup in traffic made it 32-25 to Killester with three minutes to go in the second quarter. Hannah Thornton and Denise Dunlea exchanged baskets in the final minute, before Lorraine Scanlon converted on the rebound at the end of the quarter for Utility Trust St. Paul’s, to reduce the deficit to 38-33 at half-time. 

Killester really turned the game in their favour at the start of the third quarter thanks to a 10-point run, while defensively they were containing the threat of the likes of Kerr and Callie Cavanaugh

Back-to-back threes from Destiny Strother and a Samantha Haiby fastbreak and layup had Killester 56-35 up with three minutes to go. Cavanaugh finally snapped the run, however Utility Trust St. Paul’s scored just four points in the third quarter overall. A layup and a corner two from Sara Fernandez Lopez in the final minute saw Killester into a 62-37 lead.

Utility Trust St. Paul’s to their credit started the fourth quarter with back-to-back three’s from Kerr. Killester responded in kind - Strother and Haiby converting from the three point line, Mark Grennell’s side were 68-44 up two minutes in. Cavanaugh and Kerr kept the scoreboard ticking over for St. Paul’s as they tried to close the gap, but the gap was too large to bridge. Strother picked up the game MVP following her 20-point performance.

Killester captain Michelle Clarke said: ““We haven’t had our best season to date, I think our talent is still there this year, but we didn’t always match it with our work ethic. I think we righted a wrong that we didn’t get right in January (in the Paudie O’Connor National Cup final). Delighted to come out with the result that we did and hopefully we can look forward to our men’s side raising the trophy today.”

She added, “When you play a Kerry team there’s one thing guaranteed, and that’s that they have a ‘never-say-die’ attitude and we needed to match that today and I thought we did for enough time to come away with a nice win.”

Special scenes, @KillesterBball 🥹#DominosWSL | #IrishBasketball pic.twitter.com/JUjzg00rtZ

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) April 13, 2025

Quarter Scores:

Q1: 16-21, Q2: 17-17, Q3: 4-24, Q4: 26-21

Game Scores:

Q1: 16-21, Q2: 33-38, Q3: 37-62, Q4: 63-83

Utility Trust St. Paul’s:

Leah McMahon (8), Abby Doherty (0), Rheanne O’Shea (2), Lynn Jones (0), Clodagh Clancy (0), Gracen Kerr (16), Denise Dunlea (4), Lorraine Scanlon (5), Siofra O’Shea (0), Kate Healy (DNP), Callie Cavanaugh (18), Mathilde Diop (10)

Killester:

Destiny Strother (20), Michelle Clarke (14), Samantha Haiby (25), Leilani Turner (1), Sarah Courtney (2), Ali Connolly (0), Robyn Malone (DNP), Ieva Bagdanaviciene (10), Hannah Thornton (7), Maeve O’Seaghdha (0), Sara Fernandez Lopez (4)