U16 Girls All Ireland Club Championships
Donegal Town Basketball Club u16 girls were in Dublin last weekend for the Aicc’s. This is the highlight of the year for the Regions winning team and the 2nd year in a row that DTBC have qualified. With 12 teams all Regional winners and runners up coming together to battle it out over 2 days it’s a tough 2 days on the players with DTBC playing 3 games on saturday with a 6am start to head to the capital.
Mohill BC Leitrim 20 DTBC 43
Our First game off the day saw us take on old rivals Mohill who used to be in the North West Regions and our girls came outa the blocks fast to race ahead 16-1 after the first with some terric defending and 12 points from Sophie Carr which included 2 fine 3 pointers. Orla Carbery would go on to dominate the defensive paint for the whole weekend for her team which gave us a great platform to fast break and deny easy lay up chances for Mohill. DTBC went on to win the game fairly easily in the end.
Team; R Gillespie, N Battles Mc Geoghan 3, N Prendiville, A Timoney, S Carr 26, K Harron, C Harron 2, S Donovan, C Campbell, L Clinton, O Carbery © 10, A Mackle ; Reserves A Murphy, C Cox, E Meehan, K Gillespie,
Tullamore BC 46 DTBC 35
We went into the second game with familiar opposition having played Tullamore 2 years ago in Belfast at u14 level. They showed again what small teams can achieve as the got the better of us on the day. We would be disappointed as we struggled around the basket to convert easy chances which the team were creating regularly while Tullamore on the other hand had a lot of skill and neat touches around our basket which was the difference in the end. A 15-6 first quarter loss was followed by a 15-8 second quarter but to our girls credit they got stuck in and won the next 2 quarters 11-9 and 10 -7 but the first half damage couldn’t be reeled in. A great game and we learnt a lot from it. Team N Battles Mc Geoghan 7, N Prendiville, A Timoney 2, S Carr 8, K Gillespie 1, C Harron 7, S Donovan, C Campbell, L Clinton, O Carbery © 8, E Meehan, A Mackle 2. Reserves A Murphy, C Cox, K Harron, R Gillespie.
DTBC 39 St Colms Limerick 37
What a game this turned out to be against a Limerick side that won the All ireland at 14s the opposition. With the disappointment of losing a game we could have easily won a few hours earlier the girls picked themselves up really well and started the game well Nadine stuck in 2 great scores to get us going with Orla and Sophie also hitting 2 scores each to give us a 12-6 first quarter start. But the Limerick side rallied to win the next 12-5 to take a slender 1 point lead into half time. They again started the stronger with a few nice outside shots dropping to take the third 13-6 and a 7 point lead which looked for all the world enough as our girls were not at their best at all. A 13 point for the limerick side going into the last. This has to be the best quarter i’ve seen in the 4 years im with this group. Having started the day at 5am in Donegal and 2 and ¾ games played they dug deep and summoned up a great effort playing under huge pressure and against a fine side slowly started to eat into the St Colms lead. Captain Orla Carbery dominated the boards providing chance after chance on the break and after a nice basket herself set Courtney Harron away to hit 2 scores on the break. While Sophie had a nice 2pointer as well to leave us 4 behind going into the last 30 seconds. And end line play saw Cophie convert a pressure score to go 2 behind and A side move saw Sophie drive to take a wonderful basket to level the game. Then with only seconds left up stepped Nadine who nailed a wonderful deep 2 pointer to take the lead and then defended very well to hold on and win the most dramatic of games. Delighted is and understatement! What a performance. MVP Nadine for this game as she was outstanding. Team: Orla Carbery, 9, Sophie Carr 12, Catherine Campbell 4, Courtney Harron 4, Aoibhe Timoney, Aoife Mackle, Natasha Prendiville, Nadine Battles Mc Geoghan 10, Lucy Clinton, Kirsty Harron, Aisling Murphy, Ciara Cox, Emma Meehan, Sarah Donovan, Katie Gillespie, Roisin Gillespie.
Muckno Lakers Castleblayney 31 DTBC 37
Finally into the Sunday and what was the Division 2 All Ireland Final now called 5th 6th place Final. Again we had a great start with Nadine and Sophie giving us a 7-0 lead after the first. But Muckno who are regular at the Aiccs came back to win the next 15-11 to leave it a 18-15 half time for us with a Sophic Carr hitting two 3 pointers the first half highlights. We went on to win the next 9-6 and draw the last quarter 10 each to secure a fine win and a great tournament overall. Team; Orla Carbery, 5 Sophie Carr 21, Catherine Campbell , Courtney Harron 4, Aoibhe Timoney 2, Aoife Mackle, Natasha Prendiville, Nadine Battles Mc Geoghan 10, Lucy Clinton, Kirsty Harron, Aisling Murphy, Ciara Cox, Emma Meehan, Sarah Donovan, Katie Gillespie, Roisin Gillespie.
A fantastic effort from all out girls in getting ready for this and during the tournament. Our 2 main players over the last few years were Orla Carbery and Sophie Carr who were brilliant the whole weekend and you can add Nadine Battles Mc Geoghan to the the 2 girls as she was fantastic. Catherine Campbell really blossomed over the 2 days and along with Aoife Mackle, Courtney Harron, Aoibhe Timoney and Natasha Prendiville gave great performances. Everybody in the panel contributed and made it a proud day or two for the club. Well done Girls.
