Women's Super League Basketball: All three Cork clubs lose on the road

A disappointing weekend for all three Cork clubs in the Women’s Super League with all losing their games on the road.

Gurranbraher Credit Union Brunell travelled to play Utility Trust St Paul’s Killarney without American Deaja Richardson and were made pay the price by the Kerry side when going down 71-70.

The sides were level at 20 points each after the opening quarter but Brunell showed plenty of class and spirit in the second quarter to take a six-point interval lead.

Although the third quarter was tight Brunell managed to win this period 13-11 but it was the last quarter that proved their undoing when they were outscored 26-17.

The second Brunell American Trinity Hudson led the scoring on 18 points with Edel Thornton chipping in with 16 points as her rehabilitation following her 12 months on the sideline continues following her ACL injury.

It was much the same for The Address UCC Glanmire when a late rally from Waterford Wildcats saw the Deise side run out 86-81 winners.

After a tight opening three quarters Glanmire led by the minimum entering the fourth quarter but Wildcats found another gear to outscore them 22-16 to gain the all-important win.

On the plus side for Glanmire the return of captain Aine McKenna saw her contribute 10 points in 21 minutes of action.

A poor opening quarter from Catalyst Fr Mathew’s saw them outscored 26-11 that eventually proved their downfall in their away clash against Portlaoise Panthers losing out 79-65.

Consistency has been a major problem for the Model Farm Road side all season and not even giving a debut to new American signing Makeda Clarke-Nicholas could save them from another loss on the road.

Credit to their veteran Grainne Dwyer she continues to carry the fight for Mathew’s and was their leading scorer on 16 points.

UCC Demons will be pleased with their performance in Dublin against Eanna as they saw out a hard earned 94-91 win.

Fresh from losing their Pat Duffy National Cup title to Killester last week Demons showed enough to suggest they are still willing to make a bold bid for the Super League title.

The first quarter was a shootout with both teams sharing 52 points, but Demons kept the fight on in the second period as they edged it 21-19.

Eanna are a very tough side to dismantle on their home court and inspired by Cork born Sean Jenkins they were back on level terms entering the final quarter.

To be fair, Demons American Elijah Tillman who had a disappointing cup final returned to his near best form with a 26-point tally, but the form of Patrick Robinson was inconsistent.

Robinson did produce his best form in the last quarter but his tendency to turn the ball over at vital times is hurting his team although he did finish with 17 points.

Once again, the battle-hardened James Hannigan was magnificent as he also contributed 17 points and played some outstanding defence in this important win.

There was major disappointment on Saturday afternoon when it was announced that the Energywise Ireland Neptune and Sligo All Stars Men’s Super League game scheduled for the Neptune stadium had been cancelled.