Cork basketball: Glanmire's comeback away to Liffey Celtic falls short

Flomax Liffey Celtics 75 The Address UCC Glanmire 68 

DESPITE a late rally in the fourth quarter The Address UCC Glanmire failed to haul back Flomax Liffey Celtics in the Women’s Super League at the Leixlip Sports Complex on Saturday.

The opening exchanges were competitive with the home side jumping out quickly on the champions.

Irish internationals Aine O’Connor and Rachael Huijsdens posed Glanmire problems as they raced into a six-point lead.

After a poot start a brace of free throws from Mia Furlong and with the Kildare side continuing to use their physical presence they increased their lead to eight points midway through the quarter.

In this period both teams missed some easy tips and the home side finished stronger with Glanmire trailing 20-14.

They continued to waste opportunities but Glanmire reduced the lead to three points midway through this period.

In fairness, although Celtics were struggling to find their scoring power they managed to compete hard in this period.

Glanmire’s effort was poor in the shooting front and although they showed reasonable energy in defence they still trailed by seven points at the break 38-31.

On the restart, Liffey Celtics took command as Glanmire were now struggling on all fronts.

The Celtics professionals Tianna Ayulo and Alexander Navarette were causing Glanmire havoc with their movement in the offence court and with Aine O’Connor unstoppable at the post they surged into a 16-point lead.

Incredibly Glanmire were restricted to eight points in this period but it was the contributions of their Americans was the main factor at the three-quarter stage.

Jada Dapaa only contributed eight points with her American counterpart Amaya West on five but to be fair the majority of their players were not at the races.

Liffey Celtics were unstoppable in this period and with Kate O’Flaherty finishing with a stunning three-pointer they increased their lead to 17 points 56-39 entering the fourth quarter.

Coming down the stretch Glanmire rallied late but it was a little too late as their early struggles came back to haunt them.

Top scorers Flomax Liffey Celtics: T Ayulo 16, A Navarette 16, A O’Connor 14, S Tiernan 14.

Glanmire: A West 16, J Dapaa 14, A McKenna 9, A Dooley 9.

CELTICS: A Navarette, C Boyce, K Bracken, K O’Sullivan, G Munnelly, A O’Connor, R Huijsdens, N Sherlock, K O’Flaherty, S Tiernan, T Ayulo.

GLANMIRE: A McKenna, A Murphy, M Furlong, L Scannell, S O’Reilly, S O’Shea, M Breen, A West, J Dapaa, C O’Driscoll, A Dooley, M Loughrey, M Breen.