Conceding ground
By Daire Walsh
Ahead of their meeting at Oblate Hall in Inchicore this Saturday at 7pm, Griffith College Templeogue and Oblate Dynamos conceded ground in the MissQuote.ie Women’s Division One table last weekend reports Daire Walsh.
After losing their first game of the campaign at the expense of Abbey Seals Dublin Lions seven days earlier, Templeogue were hoping for better fortune against the high-flying McEvoy’s Cavan Eagles on Saturday. The Breffni side had an unblemished record from their opening three fixtures of the new season and were a single point in front (16-15) heading into the second-quarter at the National Basketball Arena.
The hosts subsequently moved ahead with the help of fine baskets from Lynn Tunnah and Aoife Whelan, but Cavan nevertheless brought a 35-32 buffer into the half-time break.
Despite threatening to pull away, the visitors were pegged back by five consecutive points from Tunnah at the start of the final-quarter. Templeogue even found themselves in the ascendancy in the closing stages, but their Ulster counterparts held their nerve to eventually record a fourth successive win on a scoreline of 73-63.
Individual tallies of 23 and 13 points from Tunnah and Whelan respectively had kept sixth-place Templeogue in the reckoning throughout and they will need big displays out of this duo if they are to get the better of Oblate Dynamos this weekend.
The Inchicore women are back in national league basketball after a six-year absence, but fell to their third defeat in four away to Moy Tolka Rovers on Saturday.
Yet there was plenty for Dynamos to take from the game as Tolka Rovers needed overtime before ultimately securing a 58-48 victory. On course for an agonising one-point reversal, Dynamos kept their hopes alive courtesy of a free throw from Jennifer Sheehan with 14 seconds remaining in the fourth-quarter.
Sheehan and Samantha Massey registered five points apiece for Dynamos, but it was Claire Quinn Nealon (12) and Heather Meagher (11) who emerged as their scorers-in-chief.
Having gotten their campaign up and running against Templeogue, Abbey Seals Dublin Lions (one place ahead of Oblate in ninth) were on the receiving end of a 75-61 defeat to Swords Thunder at ALSAA in their third game of the campaign. The Clondalkin-based outfit were given a bye on the opening weekend of Division One and still have a match in hand on most of their opponents.
There was a significant positive for the Lions in the form of Amelia Motz’s magnificent performance. She amassed a stunning haul of 32 points and is set to be a key figure when the Lions welcome St Paul’s, Killarney to Colaiste Bride at 5.30pm on Saturday.