Ireland women's U18 team end Four Nations campaign with emphatic 84-29 victory over Scotland

The Ireland U18 women’s team got a fully deserved win for their efforts against Scotland on Thursday morning, winning on an emphatic 84-29 scoreline to close the curtain on their Four Nations campaign.

Tommy O’Mahony’s side proved their intent from the get-go, leading by 14 before Scotland registered a score on the board.

Sarah Hickey and Lucy Devoy were in fine form early on, combining aplenty. As well as registering on the scoreboard, there were plenty of steals for the pair. 

 Lucy Devoy // @sameoldsmith

The Irish side were playing with a point to prove, having come out second best in the games against Wales and England on Wednesday. They went in at 25-6 up after the first quarter. 

It was more of the same in the second. Lucy Coogan, who had just celebrated her 18th birthday, got the scoring underway and set the tone. 

Erica Egan was first to plenty of rebounds and made her mark on the scoreboard with a jump shot.

A combination of Emily O’Dwyer and Niamh Tolan stretched the margin as O’Mahony kept the court personnel fresh to lead 47-10 at the interval.

Scotland gave as good as they got at the restart, but they couldn’t contain Sarah Hickey.

The Waterford Wildcats forward starred for the U18 team, ending up with a highly impressive triple-double.

☘️ 𝙏𝙚𝙖𝙢 𝙢𝙖𝙨𝙘𝙤𝙩 𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙚𝙙 𝙬𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙨.

Well done to all the U18 team on the win over Scotland, especially Sarah Hickey with the triple-double! 💫

- 28 points
- 10 rebounds
- 10 steals#FourNations2022 | @WITWildcats pic.twitter.com/Gj1efivB1r

— Basketball Ireland (@BballIrl) April 14, 2022

Niamh Tolan contributed with eight points by the end of the fourth, as Ireland ended up winning 84-29 to get a victory under their belts to end their Four Nations campaign in Cardiff.

Top scorers vs Scotland

-  Sarah Hickey, 28 points

- Lucy Devoy, 13 points

- Erica Egan, 9 points

Speaking after the tournament, head coach Tommy O’Mahony said: 

“Overall it was a good experience, performance wise we are nowhere near where we need to be, we got a glimpse of our potential as a team but we know we will come up against stronger teams, which means we have a lot of work to do over the next few months to get to where we need to be, but a great tournament to gauge where we are at right now.”

Results [with stats]

Wales 67-61 Ireland

Ireland 65-80 England

Ireland 84-29 Scotland

The live broadcasts of all games can be played back in full here.