Cork Basketball: Glanmire topple league leaders St Paul's with exhibition of class
Glanmire forward Faye McDonnell eyes up the basket against St Paul's at the Mardyke Arena. Picture: Noel Sweeney
Career Decisions UCC Glanmire produced a season best to topple leaders Utility Trust St Paul’s in the Domino’s Women’s Super League at the Mardyke Arena on Sunday.
This was a wonderful exhibition of basketball led by two quality Glanmire Americans in Jewel Watkins (41) and Viane Cumber (25), who contributed 66 points of their team's final tally.
Many pundits have argued St Paul’s professional trio of Maisie Burnham, Tara Cousins and Lovisa Hevinder as the best in the league but in this game, they were made to look second-rate to their counterparts. This was as good a display as produced by any side this season and now Glanmire look on a serious mission.
The opening exchanges were played at a fast and furious pace with both sides exchanging baskets with Jewel Watkins showing deft touches for the home side.
There is little doubt St Paul’s Americans are quality with Burnham and Cousins and it was their contributions that kept their side within striking distance.
However, Glanmire’s American’s Watkins and Cumber were superb also and Annaliese Murphy's three-pointer gave her side a 19-9 lead.
Credit to Glanmire, they played some outstanding defence in the opening quarter to shut down the various St Paul’s threats.
In the closing minute, both teams had an opportunity to add to their scoring tally but it was Glanmire who commanded a 22-13 lead.
On the restart, St Paul’s came out firing and the lead was reduced to three points in the 12th minute.
Suddenly, Glanmire were choosing silly options and coach Mark Scannell made his feelings known when calling an early time.
The scoring suddenly increased with both sides trading baskets but Glanmire were making silly errors in defence and not clearing their boards as St Paul’s reduced the deficit to three points 36-33 with 2.40 remaining to the interval.
The closing minutes saw a number of easy tips go a-begging but after a truly wonderful 20 minutes of basketball, it was Glanmire who went in at the break commanding a four-point lead 43-39. The stats read that Glanmire were 22/51 inside the arc (43%) and outside the paint, it showed they had 7/32 (32%).
There is little doubt coach Scannell was not happy with his team’s defence particularly in the second quarter when they gave up some soft baskets.
On the restart Cumber nailed a mid-range jumper as the scoring continued to flow for both sides. Captain Aine McKenna looked back to her best and she drained a beauty in the 24th minute and when Cumber produced an outrageous three-pointer midway through the quarter, it stretched the Glanmire lead to 11 points 57-46.
To be fair Glanmire were now playing champagne basketball and with stringent defending were not giving the leaders a sniff at the basket. They were now in total control. This period was an incredible one for Glanmire in the shooting department as Americans Cumber and Watkins were off the charts.
St Paul’s were disjointed and Glanmire took a 22-point lead into the fourth quarter.
On the restart, the hosts continued to dominate and with coach Scannell using his bench and giving his leading players a well-earned this was a victory to savour and certainly enjoyed by their fans.
J Watkins 41, V Cumber 25, A McKenna 8, C O’Sullivan 8.
M Burnham 22, T Cousins 21, L Scanlon 5, L Jones 3.
A McKenna, J O’Shea, C O’Sullivan, A Murphy, M Furlong, J Watkins, M Loughrey, L Walsh, E Dunne, F McDonnell, V Cumber.
T Cousins, N O’Connor, L Jones, L McMahon, C O’Sullivan, A Brosnan, M Burnham, D Dunlea, D Geaney, L Scanlon, S O’Shea, L Hevinder.
Jamie Dooley (Portlaoise), Jacek Malaysko (Portlaoise).
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