Cork Basketball: Defeats for Brunell and Fr Mathew's
Edel Thornton, Singleton's SuperValu Brunell in action against Ulster University. Picture: Larry Cummins
ANOTHER defeat for Singleton’s SuperValu Brunell in the Women’s Super League as they went down to Ulster University at the Parochial Hall on Sunday.
This was the seventh consecutive for Brunell and questions must be asked of how long more they are going to compete in this league without a professional.
For captain Edel Thornton who once again put in a serious shift with a 32 point tally it was another disappointing day at the office.
Thornton said: “I cannot fault the effort of my teammates but again today the difference was Ulster’s American players.”
Victory scholar McKayla Roberts didn’t return from the States at Christmas as her court time was minimal in the months she played with the northside club and she basically wasn’t happy. It was hard to believe this player had a reasonable college career but the Brunell coach Liam Culloty didn’t rate the American.
On the other side of the coin, professional Mary Dunn didn’t look fit when she arrived on Leeside and after weeks of nursing an injury she finally returned to the States. Without getting into the politics of it, it's totally unfair on their Irish players who have to endure facing two Americans on a weekly basis for far too long.
In this game, they battled hard in the opening quarter and despite Thornton and Lauryn Homan putting in another solid display they trailed 21-15.
Credit to Brunell they played some outstanding defence on the restart as both teams shared 38 points in the second quarter.
In the third quarter, Ulster University increased the tempo and with Emily Maupin outstanding they raced into a 10-point lead entering the final quarter.
Coming down the stretch Brunell threw the kitchen sink at their opponents with Thornton nailing two daggers outside the paint.
In the closing minutes, Brunell gave their all but once again they fell short despite a mighty effort.
E Thornton 32, L Homan 17, K Walsh 11, R Lynch 6.
E Maupin 34, M Posset 15, R Callery 9, C White 7.
M Roberts, K Sexton, R Sexton, A Braham, E Peyton-Blake, L Homan, D O’Reilly, L Crean-Hickey, E Thornton, M Finnegan, A Macheta, K Walsh, R Lynch, O Dupuy, M Dunn.
E Rogers-Duffy, A Posset, A Mervyn, N Burns, C Cooke, C White, A Callaghan, E Gribben, M Kealy, R Callery, E Maupin.
Referees: C O’Mahony (Tralee), E Buckley (Killarney).
There was more bad news for Cork side Fr Mathew’s when they lost 89-88 at Waterford Wildcats.
Mathew’s played solid basketball from tip-off and only trailed by the minimum at the break.
In the third quarter inspired by American Sydney Candeleria who finished with 21 points, they surged into an eight-point lead and looked comfortable when still leading entering the closing minute.
Amazingly they went into meltdown and with Sarah Hickey finishing with a game-high 36 points the Waterford side exposed Mathew’s errors at the death to win by the minimum.
S Hickey 36, K Seay 25, K Hickey 7.
S Candeleria 21, G Dwyer 19, A Murphy 12, A Corkery 11.
