UCC Glanmire gain revenge over Killester with huge performance and SuperLeague win

Career Decisions UCC Glanmire 86 

Killester 71 

Career Decisions UCC Glanmire gained revenge on Killester for their National Cup semi-final defeat when defeating the Dublin side in the Domino’s Women’s Super League at the Mardyke Arena on Sunday.

In a game where the Cork side had top displays from Jewel Watkins (24) and Viane Cumber (21) it was the shooting of Aine McKenna in the fourth quarter that had the home fans in rapture.

In the opening Killester possession Leva Bagdanaviciene was giving the space for an easy tip with the Glanmire defence all at sea.

Credit to Glanmmire they responded well and a basket from Jewel Watkins and a three pointer from Viane Cumber got them up and running.

Cumber was certainly looking as if she was up for the battle but with Killester ace American Samantha Haibi also looking razor sharp the home side just edged it 10-9 midway through the quarter.

Both sides missed some easy tips and with two minutes remaining a stunning Annaliese Murphy three pointer gave the home side a 16-11 lead.

Credit to Glanmire they pushed on in the closing minutes and they deservedly commanded an eight- point lead 21-13 entering the second quarter.

On the restart Glanmire went into meltdown and in the space of 38 seconds consecutive Killester baskets forced Glanmire coach Mark Scannell to call a time out.

To be fair Glanmire came out and responded with a Cumber basket but once again Killester came back to tie the game at 23 points each.

In fairness Glanmire were always finding a gear and in Jewel Watkins they had a player whose eye for the basket inside and outside the paint kept her team in control leading 32-25.

Claire O’Sullivan was superb in this period as she continues to excel and when she assisted Mia Furlong for a stunning three pointer in the 17th minute Glanmire surged into a 15- point lead.

In the closing minutes Glanmire missed a number of easy tips to increase their lead.

Watkins came to their rescue in the last possession with her third three pointer as Glanmire went in at break with a 12-point lead 45-33 lead.

Looking at the Glanmire stats they had a 11/24 inside the paint and outside the arc 2/14 that showed a 14% reading.

Watkins showed her class on the restart with consecutive three pointers as Killester now looked a side firmly on the ropes.

To be fair Killester were now looking disorganised at both ends of the court and in the 24th minute they trailed by 20 points.

The only player that was standing to be counted for Killester was Haibi but with Glanmire dropping down a gear the deficit was reduced to 15 points midway through the quarter.

The one worry for the Killester coach Mark Grennell is how his team performed and granted his side had one eye on Sunday’s cup final this display wouldn’t be good enough at basketball headquarters.

In the closing minutes the teams swapped baskets before three late free throws from Haibi ensured the Glanmire lead was reduced to 14 points 68-54.

Aine McKenna showed her class with a stunning three pointer on the restart but killester responded with a similar shot from Maeve O Seaghdha gave the Dubliners a ray of hope.

McKenna followed up with consecutive shots outside the arc and suddenly it was a 20- point game with six minutes remaining.

It was a case of Glanmire of closing out the game coming down the stretch as this was possibly their best performance of the season.

Scorers for Career Decisions UCC Glanmire: J Watkins 26, V Cumber 26, C O’Sullivan 11, A McKenna 9.

Killester: S Haiby 26, A Roden 20, M O’Seaghdha 11.

Career Decisions UCC Glanmire: A McKenna, C O’Sullivan, A Murphy, M Furlong, J Watkins, M Loughrey, L Walsh, E Dunne, F McDonnell, A Dooley, V Cumber.

Killester: A Elliot, M Clarke, S Haiby, L Turner, S Courtney, S Power, A Roden, A Connolly, L McFarland, L Bagdanaviciene, H Thornton, M O Seaghada.

Referees: Lynda Cassidy (Dublin), Tara Dunphy (Dublin).